The Immigrant's Homecoming - Contemporary Example

A contemporary example of this content

Maria had lived in America for thirty years, building a successful business and raising her family. But every night, she dreamed of her hometown in Colombia—the smell of her grandmother's cooking, the sound of familiar voices, the comfort of understood customs. Despite her success, she felt like a permanent outsider, longing for the place where she truly belonged. When she finally returned for a visit, something surprising happened. The homeland of her dreams had changed. The people she remembered had aged or moved away. The place that lived so vividly in her memory existed only in her heart. Yet the longing remained—not for the physical place as it was, but for the idea of home, for perfect belonging, for being fully known and loved. This is the Christian's experience of heavenly citizenship. Philippians 3:20 declares: 'Our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ.' We live as 'foreigners and exiles' (1 Peter 2:11) in this world, never quite fitting in, always sensing that we're made for something more. The writer of Hebrews describes the patriarchs as 'longing for a better country—a heavenly one' (Hebrews 11:13-16). This holy homesickness isn't escapism but recognition that we're created for perfect communion with God and others. Our restlessness in this world points to our true destination—not the heaven of our imagination, but the reality of perfect love, complete belonging, and eternal home with God.