Returning to Our One True Home

Excerpt from Henri Nouwen’s Show Me the Way: Daily Lenten Readings:

The parable of the prodigal son is a story about returning . . . He didn’t return because of a renewed love for his father. No, he returned simply to survive. He had discovered that the way he had chosen was leading him to death. Returning to his father was a necessity for staying alive . . . God’s love does not require any explanations about why we are returning. God is glad to see us home and wants to give us all we desire, just for being home.

When we think of the word returning, the first question that comes to mind is returning to what and where? Home? Where is home?  What is home?

Growing up, both of us moved around a lot. By that, we really mean a lot. If we were to total the number of times we’ve moved around, not counting the number of times our parents moved around after we moved out, it’d be at least 25 times. That’s more than 25 homes that are no longer called “home.”

Even now, we can hardly call any place “home” although we try to make our own abode wherever we are. Our apartment in Shanghai, even though we bought it, may not be home anymore in another 5-10 years. After all, family is everywhere but Shanghai. Taiwan. San Francisco. New York. Boston. New Jersey. Every time we visit the U.S., we stay with different family members for a few days each. It never feels like home when you’re living out of a suitcase or when your family keeps moving around and you’re always staying at a different place. It’s also strange that our local Chinese friends think we’re “visiting home” when we don’t exactly have a home in the U.S. Besides, we’re usually much happier “returning” to Shanghai after traveling in the U.S. However, China will never be “home” to us because we will forever be treated as “foreigners” in this country.

Eventually, our chapter in Shanghai will come to an end one day (don’t know when). We will travel to many more places and live in many more places. It does seem like the more places we’ve been to, the farther we depart from home, if such a place exists or is only a figment of our imagination.

The Return of the Prodigal Son

The parable of the prodigal son points us to the heart of God and how our lifelong search for a home is just a reflection of our innate longing to be in a place where we are accepted, loved, cared for, nurtured, and free to be who we are. It is this longing that draws us to seek and not be satisfied with anything but God’s love and the sanctuary He has prepared for us. It is the inner voice, the breath of life, that calls us always to return to the one who has created us in love and wants to re-create us in mercy. How often we go our own ways in pursuit of “life and happiness” only to be disappointed, lost, hurt, or broken. The more material things we accumulate, the bigger our home gets, the fatter our wallets and bank accounts, the more empty and lost we are.

The return of the prodigal son reminds us that we’re just pilgrims here on earth with one destination in mind — our One True Home.