As It Was in the Beginning . . .

My military family moved fifteen times before I left for college. I have used Google Earth and driven by former homes to see what they look like. I find myself asking, “Was that house really that small? Did we really play in those swampy woods?” Home, for me, was the community of my immediate family, not the domicile where we resided. My parents’ love and support sustained me and helped me grow wherever we lived.

Jeremiah offers words of promise to an exiled remnant in Babylon. The remnant dreams of going home. But these dreams have been built on the memories of many who will not return. The people have been in exile for seventy years; two generations have already died. Those who came to Babylon are not the people who will “return.” They are sustained in their journey by God’s everlasting love. God assures them that their vulnerable members will not be left behind. They will be consoled, led to water, and provided with straight and level paths. Indeed, the blind, lame, children, and pregnant women will travel with ease.

As disciples of Jesus Christ, we are sustained by the love and grace of God that has come to us through Jesus Christ and the support of the Holy Spirit. Our home is the heart of God. In Jeremiah’s words to the exiled Israelites we find the promise of a way home out of whatever exile—self-inflicted or inflicted by others—we experience.

No matter what exile has left you vulnerable, defeated, and separated from what you love, God will embrace and sustain you with everlasting love, console you, and lead you home.