Just been reading about people made homeless in Syria - and aware of so many other places where people are having to flee and so become homeless. The old phrase 'there's no place like home' comes to mind and many of us take having a place to call home for granted. Yet on this cold, wet Belfast night there are people not far from me right now facing the night on the street. There are refugees in many parts of the world far from home and any prospect of returning there.
On our last spell in Rwanda we visited resettlement camps for people returning to Rwanda from other places. These people had been uprooted from everything that home was all about. Their problems were many, but not belonging - not feeling at home - you could tell that was a tough one. I heard just this week that many of the people we visited have since been taken to various parts of the country where they will make new lives for themselves - where hopefully they will soon feel at home again.
I used to have quite a different home a long way away which I loved, and returning to this one was a painful process because this was not home and didn't feel like it for quite some time. And then God taught me that when I put down roots I have to put them down, not in the ground, but in a flower pot, so that I can be easily moved from one place to another as he wants. That helped a lot. This little pot plant loves her present home and it is home - the right place for me for now.
But I know my real home is in Heaven and I so look forward to that one. In the meantime, this little pot plant will enjoy this home - and tonight there will be a few extra prayers for all those who need a place to call home.
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