Not our home...

I've been reminded over and over this week that I am not the only one whose life has been turned upside down by tragedy and loss.  Story after story, pain continues to invade the lives of folks I know and even more I don't.

I was reminded yesterday of my first experience with a life-altering loss on September 11th, 1995, when my grandmother died suddenly.  I just adored this dear woman, who loved her grandkids more than life itself.  Of all the people I would have wanted Tony to meet, she was at the top of my list.

Add on top of this date 6 years later, September 11th, 2001, and it makes for quite the sad day.  I think none of us who lived through 9/11 could ever forget where we were, what we felt, and how it changed our lives forever.  And even if we could, we still feel the effects so much in our daily lives.  The security line at the airport always gets me - infringements on our freedom that all stemmed from deep hatred and thousands of lives lost.

It brings me back to an important truth that I took from watching those towers fall in New York.

This world is not our home.
It's not.  It's just not.
And because of the fall of man, God does not intend for it to be.
And because it's not our home, this world is not meant for our comfort and pleasure.

Occasionally I'll get the question of how I make sense of Tony's tragic fall.  Honestly, I don't think I'll ever make complete sense of it this side of heaven, becasue none of us are given a full view of our lives while on this earth. Yet, I do find peace in the truth above - that this world, full of sadness and hurt and uncomprehendable hardship, is just a temporary place until we are called home to heaven.

So I can say with full confidence, though bittersweet, that my love, my Tony, is finally home.

Dearly loved, and longing for home,
Melissa