Homecoming Part 1
September 8, 2026
We welcome you to this week’s Daily Reflections on the subject of Homecoming.
Today I was talking with a wonderful lady who told me a heartwarming story about her 12-year-old grandson, who has just conquered a battle with leukemia.
“Today was his first day of school,” she said. “He’s in the seventh grade this year. I asked him what his favorite part of the day was. And you know what he told me? He said, ‘Coming home.’”
What is it about coming home that makes so many of us feel good—complete, safe, and whole. For me, it’s returning to the place where my loved ones are, where I am most comfortable—the place with which I am most familiar, and the place that houses my memories. It is the one-of-a-kind environment that contains all the physical symbols of my life—photographs, keepsakes, and gifts that represent cherished people and memories. It may not be a church built on hallowed ground, but it is a sanctuary just the same, for it is a refuge.
It is where I relax fully, kick off my shoes, and, if I please, walk around unshaven and even unkempt. I can be totally myself in our house. I sing, dance, tell the people on the news what I think, cry, and laugh—all without any judgment. Sometimes I find myself talking to the dogs as if they understood what I was saying. And when I realize what I am doing, I have zero embarrassment. After all, I am home. Where else in the world do we have such freedom? For me, this is one of the sacred qualities of home: it is where we can lay down the identities we carry into the world and simply be.
I bet it is as true for you as it is for me: my house has special places within it—the chairs I inhabit, the views I love, and the bed in which I feel most comfortable. Its walls are painted in colors that resonate with us. And my special coffee mug rests in the cabinet right above the coffee machine.
Every place in our house carries memories that cradle my heart. So, anywhere in the house, I am surrounded by the love that has filled and accumulated in that space for decades.
Many years ago, while on a trip to Selma, we found the heart-pine flooring for our kitchen and family room in an old home that was being demolished. We got the breakfront in our dining room from an antique store in Harrisonburg, Virginia, when we lived in Charlottesville, where I was in graduate school. The dining room table and its mismatched chairs came from a used furniture store in Cambridge, Massachusetts, near where we also once lived as students. These were simply pieces of used furniture, but for us, in the limited income of our student years, they were golden gifts—and we will always cherish them.
When I open my front door, the smells and fragrances of home envelop me, and I melt into my place—my home, my safe place. Lark is usually there to greet me, her voice welcoming me from wherever she is. Then, with wagging tails, the dogs run to me and usher me to wherever I find Lark.
Our yard is a continuation of the sanctuary—a place where the familiar, nurturing home meets the sacred beauty of the natural world.
Home is more than a place. Though it is a material structure, it carries a spiritual quality that no other place has for us. The friend’s courageous seventh-grade grandson, after everything he has been through, understands something essential for living consciously. After illness, uncertainty, hospitals, treatments, and struggle, what did he treasure most about his first day back at school? Coming home.
We return home in many ways. This week we will reflect on home, homecoming, and the sacred aspects of that hallowed place in the world and in ourselves.
Spiritual Practice
Reflect on the place you call home. Write an essay about its spiritual qualities. What in the essay takes center stage? Why?
Inquiry
Why do you want to return home after a trying time away? Why do you also want to return home after a wonderful vacation?
Prayer
Dear God,
I know why it is true that “home is where the heart is.” You have given me a place where my heart can rest, and I am grateful. Thank You for the places, people, and moments in which we have known the blessing of home. Be especially near to those who are searching for a safe place where their hearts can rest.
Amen
