Some years ago my husband and I traveled to Tokyo. I really felt out of place there! I didn't understand the language at all. And I definitely stood out in the crowd. Most Japanese are short - which I am, and thin - which I am not. Add to that my blonde hair and blue eyes, and you can understand why I felt like I stood out in a crowd! I didn't feel like I fit in there.
I'm having much the same feeling this morning, post-election. As I look at the election results, I really feel like I don't fit in....that I'm a stranger in my own country. I'm not talking so much about Republican vs. Democrat. I'm talking about not recognizing my country any more.
The first presidential election I remember was in 1960, Kennedy vs. Nixon. And I vividly remember President Kennedy's inaugural speech......."Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country."
We've come a long way since then, haven't we? As a people we are no longer interested in what we can do for our country but instead are apparently only interested in what our country is going to do for us. When I see people making decisions based on free cell phones and free birth control, I hardly know what to think. I'm saddened to see people more interested in stuff than in substance. I'm baffled that people seem to be more interested in what a celebrity is wearing or who that celebrity is dating than in the serious issues we face as a nation. I'm confused by a nation that is willing to pay athletes millions of dollars to play games, but is not willing to adequately compensate teachers and the men and women of our armed forces.
As I said yesterday, God is God and I am not. I firmly believe this. I have staked my eternity on this truth. I know that God has a plan and purpose for all things. I know that He is in control. Even so, I find myself confused and disappointed by many things I see going on around me. And more and more, day by day, I feel as though I just don't fit in. I don't feel at home in my own country any more.
And so I look forward to the future.....to my ultimate home where I will be at home forever.........for Jesus said "Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father's house are many dwelling places; if it were not so I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also." (Matthew 14:1-3 NASB)
I don't feel at home in my own country any more. I don't feel like I fit in. And while my earthly citizenship is in the United States of America, and I love my country, my ultimate citizenship is in heaven. The Apostle Paul wrote about this in his letter to the Ephesians: "So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and are of God's household, having been built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together is growing into a holy temple in the Lord in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit." (Ephesians 2:19-22 NASB).
So, the bottom line is this: there are many things about which I can say I am disappointed this morning, but I have much more reason to rejoice. God is in control. He has a place prepared for me. And I'm not home yet.
"This world is not my home, I'm just passing through.
My treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue.
The angels beckon me from heaven's open door
And I can't feel at home in this world any more."
(Alfred Brumley)
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