The Way I See It: Home

(A photo prompt from Molly at Close to Home )


When the photo prompt at Molly's was "Home", I was sitting in the Stanford Hospital cafeteria, waiting for the ICU visiting hours to start again.  I was surrounded by medical students whose faces give new meaning to the word tired.  I am sure this cafeteria is their home away from home.  I also saw hospital visitors, many who had children who were patients at Stanford Children's Hospital.  They knew the cashier's names by heart, they knew what soup was served on Fridays, they knew where the forks were hiding and whether or not the entree of the day was worth getting.  This was their home, too.

I had thought I would post pictures of my husband and children, because wherever they are is my home.  But as I sat having my salad, I looked up at the wall art and saw this:

Doctors,  med students, techs, nurses, all trying to help those who are suffering; family and friends looking for hope and healing for their loved ones; me, waiting to hold my dying cousin's hand.  We are all being asked to make a home in this place of suffering, for a short time or a lifetime.  This is a home no one would choose, but many have to live here everyday. 

When I am with these five beautiful faces (and their daddy) I am most at home.  But sometimes we are called away to a time of suffering, and home has to expand to that place, too.

In Hannah Coulter, Wendell Berry writes, "Love is what carries you, for it is always there, even in the dark, or most in the dark, but shining out at times like gold stitches in a piece of embroidery."

There is plenty of dark in life; we all need love to carry us.  I am thinking today of those who continue their vigils at Stanford Hospital, continue suffering, continue hoping against hope.  May God bring them love to carry them, like gold stitches in a piece of embroidery.  And may our house be a place of light in the darkness for those I call my heart's home.