I have a guilty secret.

I am a big fan of Ed Sheeran

Even more shocking, I love Taylor Swift.

Spotify informed me as 2021 drew to a close that Taylor Swift was my most listened to artist of 2021.

Perhaps I am trying to hold on to my elusive youth. Or maybe they make good music!

Isn’t it amazing how music can transport you?

to a beautiful memory of old

a moment of happiness

peace and calm

or even energise you as you sprint up a hill ( if you can call how I ascend a hill a sprint!)

Anyway I digress

Ed Sheeran’s song ‘Castle on the Hill” is one of my favourites, it is about coming home and it always makes me smile. Smile as I hear him singing so fondly of home, of teenage memories and old friends. He is longing for the security of the familiar, the comfort of those who knew him before fame and fortune shifted how everyone viewed him.

What comes to mind when you think about home?

I realise how incredibly fortunate I am that dwelling on home fills me with so many beautiful thoughts.

The joy of childhood and always knowing I had a safe home and the loving arms of my parents who cheered me on. The laughter of my brother and sister, holidays, family reunions around the table and unconditional love and acceptance.

The excitement and expectation of my children coming home, Sunday lunch, late-night games with football on in the background, walks along the shore and the privilege of them longing for home and calling on a bad day so I can shower them with the bottomless love I feel for them.

Sadly this is not how everyone sees home

An abusive Father,

a broken marriage,

a terminal cancer,

a family torn apart because of broken relationships.

The pain and memories of home fill their hearts with fear and dread, They feel they have no haven, no one to encircle them with love, Nowhere to just stop and be themselves. They are isolated, alone, haunted and scarred by memories.

As I write this I cannot fail to mention the people of Ukraine, a country already torn apart by war in only a few days.

Families scattered,

homes demolished

peace stolen

loss everywhere

we watch horrified,

we donate money

we feel pity and maybe even shed a few tears

Then we hop back onto the journey of our own lives because we do not know what else to do. We cannot imagine how they feel, the fear of what might happen, the loss of a safe home in which to find rest and the pain of seeing a loved one gone in the blink of an eye.

No refuge, no place to go, no power to change things. Memories gone or left behind, jobs abandoned, a few precious possessions piled into a car for a journey to find a haven and hope.

I have another home. A Heavenly home that cannot be taken from me. A perfect home I cannot even begin to understand or imagine.

I have a Heavenly Father who is waiting for me to run into His arms. His love never changes, He sees me and He knows who I am, yet His love is relentless, His arms always extended to welcome me.

He is my rest, my peace, my comfort, my refuge.

There are people in Ukraine who have this same Heavenly Father and they have opened their churches to be a home for those who have no home, who need a refuge when they have nowhere to go and have lost so much. They are showing the loving heart of Christ in real and practical ways regardless of the risk to themselves.

Even in the middle of turmoil, war and destruction I cannot begin to understand or explain, I still know the Heart of my Saviour, it is a heart full of love and compassion, so I need to extend that same love and compassion to those without a home, who need hope, are desperate for a safe haven and long to be showered with love and protection. It can be an inconvenient love at times but never forget, that perfect love put Jesus on a Cross for you and me.

Be home for someone who has no home to lay down their weary head.