Good Grief

One final comment on setting, for now.

When I lived in Indiana, I was lucky enough to belong to a book club that was graciously hosted by a woman who is simply wonderful. Turns out, she has a wonderful daughter, Christine, who is currently living with her husband and children in China.

Christine writes about the challenges of living abroad on her blog. A few months ago, she posted a link to an article she had written for Catapult magazine. In light of my musings on setting, I am posting this link here. Please, do yourself a favor and take a few minutes to read this article.

In the article, Christine writes of the grief that is inherit in having a home away from home. But then, she takes it a step further and speaks to the grief we all feel in having been displaced from our True Home, our heavenly home.

She concludes the article with this moving thought: "What to do then with this uncertainty of place, this longing that finds some measure of peace here, but knows there is far better there? It keeps me fresh, awkward, on bended knee, flushed with the goodness that remains but uncomfortable with the way things are, and always tightening my grip to the hope that they will not always be so. And with a groaning that is echoed throughout all of creation, my soul joins in the chorus that cries out for that Day when all our homes, and our children, our friendships and distant families find their final resting place in a land where longings do not cease, but instead never cease to be fulfilled."