I Will Lead You Home

As I mentioned in an earlier article, my soul needed extra Christmas this year, so I began playing Christmas music and decorating shortly after Halloween. Yes, my Christmas shopping is complete (feel free to act like Scrooge and frown upon my seasonal joy—I’m over 60 and your judgment no longer bothers me). Since I’ve lengthened my personal Christmas season,  I’ve had lots of time to philosophize about the meaning of Christmas. Below is the introduction to a daily Advent devotional series called “Close to Home” by Sanctified Art.

When something hits close to home, it affects us deeply. The stories and scriptures of Advent are tender, heavy with emotion, and vulnerable. We hold the memories and truths of this season close to our hearts. ‘Close to Home’ acknowledges that Emmanuel is with us, and yet, God’s promised day—our everlasting home—is not fully realized. We long for God to come close…. Home is something both physical and metaphorical, something we seek and something we are called to build. Ultimately, God is our home and resting place. God draws near and makes a home on earth—sacred ground is all around us.”

One of my favorite Christmas albums is Amy Grant’s A Christmas to Remember (side note for the youngsters: an “album” is what we mature folks call a group of recordings—I don’t know your new-fangled word for it). Grant’s song, “Christmas Lullaby/I Will Lead You Home” is a perfect expression of what “home” can mean for us, especially during Advent. Click on the title, take a breather, and enjoy the music:

Are you far away from home this dark and lonely night?
Tell me what best would help to ease your mind,
Someone to give direction for this unfamiliar road,
Or One who says, ‘Follow me and I will lead you home.’

How beautiful, how precious, the Savior of old,
To love so completely the loneliest soul,
How gently, how tenderly, He says to one and all,
‘Child you can follow Me and I will lead you home,
Trust Me and follow Me
And I will lead you home.’

Be near me, Lord Jesus, I ask Thee to stay
Close by me forever, and love me, I pray,
Bless all the dear children in Thy tender care,
And take us to Heaven to live with Thee there.

In this season of waiting, let’s remember what we’re really waiting for—not the gifts, or the parties, or the carbohydrate overload, or even for a conservative to win every election—but for the Christ Child who will lead us to a home that is so amazing and so wonderful that it is beyond our human imagination. Home, sweet home.