Which is better: taking a trip, or returning home?
It may seem hard to answer this question at first. After all, there are many reasons we might enjoy traveling. It’s a chance for us to experience new places and people, and the change of scenery can even be refreshing. However, the feeling we get when we return home after a long trip is also enjoyable. As soon as we walk through the door of our own home, we often breathe a figurative and physical sigh of relief.
But the feelings we have in either case don’t seem to last, do they? The excitement of traveling quickly turns into exhaustion. And after, the relief of returning home fades away as we return to our regular responsibilities. So, which is better: getting away from home, or being at home?
Perhaps someone would argue that this question is far too mundane to care about. So if we don’t get an answer to the question, it’s no big deal. But despite how mundane it may seem, the question is still important. In fact, this apparent tension between our travels and our rest points us to a higher reality, one that will actually answer our question. This reality is heaven.
The tension described above shows us two things. It shows us that when we travel, we long to be home. At the same time, it shows us that even when we return home, we soon feel restless. Oddly enough, home sometimes doesn’t feel like our true home. But regardless of how odd it seems, it’s true. Our earthly home is not our true home. We may seek to be refreshed by leaving home, or we may feel relieved to return home. But these feelings do not last because, whether we go or leave our earthly home, our true home lies elsewhere. Our true home is in our Father’s house.
Saint Paul knew that heaven was his true home. He reminded the Corinthians of this truth: “For we know that if our earthly dwelling, a tent, should be destroyed, we have a building from God, a dwelling not made with hands, eternal in heaven. For in this tent we groan, longing to be further clothed with our heavenly habitation” (2 Cor 5:1–2a). Saint Paul, of course, was a very seasoned traveler. His apostolic ministry brought him all over the Mediterranean. But he was thoroughly convinced that whatever refreshment he felt in his travels or rest he felt in between all paled in comparison to the rest found in his heavenly home.
So, perhaps it’s unhelpful to ask if it’s better to leave home or return home. Because if we’re speaking of our earthly home, then neither is really better. But if we’re speaking of our heavenly home, it’s not really about leaving or returning either. It’s about finally arriving, after a long journey, to that home we will never want to leave.
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Photo by Meriç Tuna on Unsplash
