Maybe, its just being in Minnesota, where spring has a habit of appearing in mid-May. Most of our year is spent waiting for summer to come and the rest of it regretting that summer is gone. Since I retired, I’ve taken to  vacationing in September as a way of stretching summer, just a little bit longer.  The few days away that I had planned for last week are already over.  I woke up this morning to a brisk and unexpected fall day.   Those moments we have waited for and anticipated may pass quickly, yet they leave us with lasting joy.  Moments of celebration, rest, vacation and reunion are part of the ebb and flow of life. They stand as markers of time passing, a movement through the different periods of our lives.  They speak of the significance and meaning we place on various aspects of our life.

Yet, the greatest meaning comes to us in our relationship with God. Augustine, an early Christian theologian and philosopher writes of God, “You have made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless, until they can find rest in you.”

Our hearts know there is “something more” in life. The nagging sense that we are missing out sneaks into our minds and spirits. The search for the something more can take us on a convoluted journey when we don’t realize who or what is missing. We may wander aimlessly, follow the false gods of materialism or find ourselves in dark and dangerous places. The good news is that God never stops searching for us.  God never stops  chasing after us in our wanderings.    We may stumble along the way.   We may falter in our faith journey.   We may lose our way, thinking we are on the way.   We may get confused and totally mess up.   Still God searches for us in all the places we try to hide ourselves in.   God searches for us the way a mom or a dad agonizes over a troubled child, or goes  searching for a missing one.   God does this because God loves us.  God wants us to be part of the great family of God and to know we have a place where we belong.  A place where we are wanted.   A place where  we will always be welcome.  A place to call home.