Home

I have been so blessed to be able to live in my "tree house". It has been my own special retreat. A place to try to be quiet in, away from the stresses of 'the rest of life.' Yes, it's a bit odd. And very tall (lots and lots of stairs in a 6 story house). But it is cradled amongst the trees, and serenaded by the birds (what music to listen to the owls at night and the hermit thrush in the day). This picture couldn't have been taken in the summer - you'd never be able to see the house with all the leaves out. But from inside, with all the windows, you live in the midst of the seasons and the changing flavors of the natural world. We've now moved past the early fresh spring greens and reds of leaves budding out, into the full blown lushness of the summer woods.

I get to sit at my dining room table, 30 feet up into the trees, and find myself wrapped in that lushness. I've been in the living room and watched a moose walk by the window. When I got married and Rick moved in here too, he added a wonderful deck onto the front of the house, expanding the little walkway that spanned the hillside to the front door into an area that allows us outdoor living space as well.

I guess all this is to say that I really am not looking forward to leaving home. (And I'm not even going to write about the emotional part of being away from my sweet man! That is my own private agony and challenge.) But the physical presence of my home is something that I treasure, and will miss deeply.

Looking at this coming Sunday's readings (yes, even though I'm not preaching this week, I still just had to read them over and ponder them a bit), I thought more about Abram's call to leave his home. At least I get to come back! But there's something there about being able to trust when you are called forth. Something about being willing to be open to see where such a calling forth leads. I wonder about my comfort in my church home - the way we've been doing church, the ways that have nourished and fed me - will I be called to leave that home forever? To strike out into new territory? There is assurance for me in that last line of this reading: "And Abram journeyed on by stages . . ." By stages. I guess I can do that.

And then I turned to the Gospel reading for Sunday: "As Jesus was walking along . . ."

Maybe it's time I left home, and took a walk?