"This is my home, the country where my heart is"

Happy Independence Day! How fitting that I am celebrating this special holiday for our country when I have just returned to it after an absence of almost three months.  How wonderful it felt to come home - to be in my house that I love, to sink into the comfort of my own bed, to see my neighborhood and my town through fresh eyes, to relish each moment of the everyday routine that might once have seemed boring.  How much more I appreciate this great country and the life that I have here after being apart from it for awhile.  How I marvel at all the small things that I missed while I was gone.  How my heart swells with joy to be HOME. At the same time, I have the fondest memories of living in Ireland.  I miss its beauty.  I miss its friendly people.  I miss its sense of history and tradition.  I miss that Greg person that I left over there.  :) Travel changes you.  It opens your eyes to a greater understanding of the wider world and, along with that, a new understanding of the little corner of it where you make your home.  If travel has this effect, how much more does it affect you to live (albeit for a short time) in another country - not just as a passing tourist, but as a temporary resident, a pseudo-local?  Ireland and its people will always be in my heart.  I bleed red, white, and blue, sure - but maybe now I bleed just a little bit green, too.  Perhaps a small piece of me will always be a smidge European.  (At least, today I took cloth bags with me to the grocery store . . . something I always knew that I should do but didn't until I experienced living in a culture where it's the expected norm.  A small and silly example, but a real change that "living in Europe" has influenced me to make.) This morning in church, we sang "America, the Beautiful."  I teared up a little bit thinking about this wonderful (and big - traveling in Europe certainly gives you a new appreciation for the size of our country) and beautiful nation that I love.  Later in the service, we sang "This Is My Song," and I thought it was exceptionally fitting for me this weekend, as I gratefully re-assimilate into life in my beloved USA while carrying a wealth of memories and a soft spot in my heart for Ireland, which truly came to feel like my second home. This is my song, Oh God of all the nations, A song of peace for lands afar and mine. This is my home, the country where my heart is; Here are my hopes, my dreams, my sacred shrine. But other hearts in other lands are beating, With hopes and dreams as true and high as mine. My country's skies are bluer than the ocean, And sunlight beams on cloverleaf and pine. But other lands have sunlight too and clover, And skies are everywhere as blue as mine. Oh hear my song, oh God of all the nations, A song of peace for their land and for mine. This is my prayer o Lord of all earth's kingdoms Thy kingdom come on earth thy will be done. Let Christ be lifted up till all shall serve him. And hearts united learn to live as one. Oh hear my prayer, o God of all the nations. Myself I give thee; let thy will be done. Truly, God is everywhere in this great world.  He is present in the lives of Americans, of the Irish, and of all other peoples in all other nations.  He has given all the different countries of the world great and varied beauty, and peopled them with kind and noble people to do His work.  Today we celebrate the freedom we enjoy here in the United States and the brave and faithful people throughout our history who helped this country come into being and molded it into a great nation.  At the same time as my heart bursts with love and pride for "my home, the country where my heart is," I remember today - and always will - that there is much to love in other countries, too.  That the skies in Ireland are just as blue as the skies here.  That the same sun sends its beams into the windows of the houses both here and there.  That clover grows both here and there (You know, shamrocks? How fitting is that to tie this song in to Ireland!).  That the people there are good, kind, and honest people with great dreams and wishes for their lives and their country.  That getting to know another country more intimately can never detract from the love you have for your own country, but can only enrich it as your worldview is expanded, deepening your appreciation for what makes home home, while giving you a new understanding of what it means to be a citizen of the world. As the sky lights up with fireworks tonight, as people wave the flag, as I sink my teeth into a good old American hamburger for the first time in a long time, I will thank God for this country, my home.  It feels so good to be back . . .

From Loving the Life We Live