“Christmas is a time when you get homesick,” says Carol Nelson, “even when you’re home.” I had that homesick feeling off and on all during this holiday season.

I miss my folks who are no longer here, my kids adventuring in far off places, and I miss something that I haven’t yet experienced—Heaven—my home.

Why is that so? How can I miss something I’ve never known? My spirit seems to cry out for a familiar place, a time, a Person I’ve not yet held.

I’ve sat and stared out the window musing over what is not yet mine; thinking of people waiting for me there. Yearning for a sight, a smell, a sound that is so new and, yet, so old.

“Yet”—a word in tension between what is coming and what is now.

I’m homesick for Heaven

My friends tell me that I talk more about Heaven than anyone else they know. Do I think I’m going to die soon? No. Am I more heavenly minded than earthly good? No. Am I getting old? Yes, but not that old.

Yet (there is that word again), Heaven is very real to me. For much of Christian history, Heaven was very real to every follower of Christ. It was often a topic of conversation and regarded as one of the major doctrines of the church.

People knew Heaven was as real as the next town down the road. Each choice in life reflected a person’s real citizenship, and folks took their heavenly citizenship seriously.

You don’t find Heaven talked about much any more except at funerals. Technology has shrunk our world, but distanced Heaven.

The Undiscovered Country doesn’t appeal to people as it once did

Most folks who experience homesickness when they are home don’t connect the feeling with the reality of a place they’ve never seen or care to know much about.

However, if you are like most historical Christians, you probably want to know all you can about the home awaiting you.

Heaven’s guide book, the Bible, lists many interesting facts and helpful information about that home. See my posts What Everybody Ought to Know About Heaven and What Do People Do in Heaven? for starters. But be prepared—the more you know, the more homesick you get.

So I’m wondering, did you get homesick this Christmas even when you were home? I’m sure that I’m not the only person out there who experiences this. Let’s talk about Heaven as others have throughout the centuries.

In Him together, Susan Gaddis