"make this place your home..."

"Settle down, it'll all be clear.
Don't pay no mind to the demons
they fill you with fear
The trouble, it might drag you down.
If you get lost, you can always be found.

Just know you’re not alone.
I’m going to make this place your home..."

Phillip Phillips' beautiful song, "Home," must be singing through the spiritual ether tonight.

First, I found myself thinking about its lyrics in the car this evening, then discovered that it has been referenced in a new Question of the Week, "How come I still feel lonely when I'm not alone?" on TMCYouth, and then found that another friend had posted a link on Facebook. I am not surprised. This song speaks to the universal desire to know that we are not alone.

My own thoughts, in connection with its lyrics, have been resting with Mary Baker Eddy's spiritual interpretation of the final line of David's 23rd Psalm, from Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures:

"And I will dwell in the house,
the consciousness of Love,
forever..."

In my faith tradition, Love is another name for God. To know that I dwell in the consciousness (the Mind) of Love, of God -- forever --is my "dearest spot" on earth.  Or in heaven.  This is my one true home. This is where I know that I am always welcome, always safe, always secure. This is where I can rest my heart, and my hopes.

From as far back as I can remember, my favorite time of day has always been that moment when I first wake up in the morning. That space of time between being conscious of my thoughts, and becoming sentient -- or aware of my surroundings. Before I even feel the coolness of the sheets with the tips of my toes, or hear a bird, or open my eyes to make sure that the world is as I left it the night before, I am certain I am living. I have experienced conscious being.

I don't need to see, hear, feel, taste, or smell anything to know I am alive.  To know that I am me.  For me, this is "home."

I clearly remember a late fall day when I was 15. We'd just moved 2,500 miles across the country to a new state, a new town, a new house, and most unsettlingly, a new school.

Every day I felt like a stranger in a strange world. I felt foreign. My body was changing, I had no friends, the styles were different than "back home," and nothing made sense...except those moments before I became sentient.

I lived for them. I would try to make them last as long as possible. I would allow my sense of self to steep in the warmth of "just being" with God, Mind. I had thoughts. I had dreams and ideas. I had beautiful images, words, feelings. I was me.  I was at home in this place.  

The longer I stayed there, the better my day went. I wasn't getting up, rushing to get ready, and then waiting for the world to confirm for me who I was.  I wasn't asking it to tell me  whether I deserved to be liked, appreciated, or seen as a viable person to talk to, befriend, or even just acknowledge as a legitimate being.

From this space, I knew I was worthy.  Before the first blush of dawn I'd already connected with the "me" who was chock full of wonderful thoughts and feelings.  I'd already spent time with the "me" who had interesting ideas, thoughts that delighted me.  From this conscious place, I realized that I had questions, and those questions were ones that I could never have "made up" on my own.

I don't know that this will make much sense to anyone else, but in that place of consciousness -- of my oneness with God -- there were no strangers, no demons, no loneliness.

I still go there...now, more than ever. It is my favorite place to be. It is the home of my heart, my work, my life, my very sense of being.

It is where I can always be found...

with Love

Kate