Pull up a chair.
This one is being written by your old uncle, the one you rarely speak to, and that may be too bad because you might have missed something. He is a little strange, sure. Around here, we call him Disco Grandpa. He has been known to chair dance, argue with cheese, protect cast iron like family property, and say things that make folks wonder if he has been out in the sun too long.
But sit awhile; he may have a thought or three worth hearing.
The internet has become loud. It does not simply talk anymore; it hollers, waves jars, powders, creams, pills, plans, secrets, miracle routines, miracle salves, miracle solvents, miracle breakfasts, miracle fasts, miracle workouts, and miracle ways to become brand new by next Tuesday if you click the link before midnight.
Everybody seems to have found the answer, and that right there should make a person suspicious.
One says this herb fixed everything. Then another says meat will save you, while another says meat is the problem. Just over there, another says buy this bottle, avoid that food, take this test, fear that ingredient, follow this routine, join this group, believe this claim, and while you are at it, look at me. Ain’t I grand?
It is easy to get irritated, and yes, sometimes I do.
You know, underneath all that noise, there is something sadder and more human going on. Maybe some of them are just trying to find their way home. Not just a house or a zip code. An actual home.
They are actually looking for peace, belonging, and maybe a body that does not feel like an enemy. They are looking for a mind that will finally sit down, or even searching for a family they thought they never had. Could it be a faith they cannot yet name, or a place where they do not have to perform every second just to feel real?
Some folks never had that, and when you think you never had a home, you may go looking for it in strange places.
I think we can sum this up from a movie quote from The Wizard of Oz, 1939: “If I ever go looking for my heart’s desire again, I won’t look any further than my own backyard. Because if it isn’t there, I never really lost it to begin with!”
So, there it is. It isn’t a powder, a vitamin, a fad diet, etc. It is something simpler: the realization that there is no place like home, whatever form that may be for you.
