Home in God
"Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?"—1 Corinthians 6:19
October 28th, 2024
📍San Miguel de Allende, Mexico
¡Saludos desde el desierto!
The "traditionalist" in me loves to experience God through rituals and traditions. I've been digging deep into the Old Testament lately, researching altars and biblical feasts.
Since launching as a digital nomad, I've been really drawn to the Feast of the Tabernacles. Sukkot is a weeklong Jewish holiday that celebrates the harvest gathering and commemorates God's miraculous protection and provision for the Israelites when they escaped Egypt. Traditionally, this celebration includes dwelling in a foliage-covered booth (known as a sukkah). You can learn more about the Feast of The Tabernacles here.
While I don't have access to a sukkah in San Miguel, in observance of this 7-day feast, I ate my dinners in the yoga palapa here on El Rancito de Arleta. Even though I wasn't living in the tent, while eating in the discomfort of the near dark and facing all of the elements (the wind and bugs), God spoke to my heart about my need to feel “at home” (aka comfortable) where I’m living.
Lately, I've been thinking a lot about what it means to be comfortable and feel at home. I loved my home in Denver because it felt like a safe place to escape the hustle and bustle of the downtown area. I created a luxurious sanctuary in my bedroom and en suite bath where I could shut out the world and soak in the Presence of God.
Now that I am living out of a suitcase in temporary housing, I've been figuring out ways to make each space I inhabit, no matter the length of my stay, have a sense of home and comfort— that always starts with fully unpacking, including my silk pillow, robe, and slippers. Next, I purchase a candle to be my signature scent for that space, bring in fresh flowers for the table, and eucalyptus for the shower (clearly, olfactory is essential to me).
While these things make me feel "at home" in a new space, YHWH reminded me in the tabernacle that none of these spaces are my comfort or my home. This world is not my home, and I am living in the world but not of it, and a true sense of home and comfort is found in God, and God’s Spirit in me.
And this is what the tabernacle was for the Israelites in the wilderness, God's Presence living amongst them. The Spirit of God dwelt in their presence while they sojourned the wilderness.
While I was sitting in the discomfort of the tent over Sukkot, the Lord was reminding me that my comfort is not found in candles and silk pillowcases. No matter where I go, Their Presence is with me there. YHWH is the sanctuary my heart needs.
My friends, we are not homeless in the wilderness seasons of our lives—Our comfort is found in Them. My friend Bette Dickinson states this so well in her upcoming book release about spiritual truths we learn from viticulture:
“With the ripple effects of colonization, technology, and air travel, we have become increasingly fragmented and transient beings. Disconnected from the land, many of us are nomads looking for a place to call home. So, how do we cultivate a sense of home and belonging if we are not native to where we live? And further still, how do we ripen the fruit of the Kingdom in ways that are shaped by our unique terroir?…Jesus tells us here that wherever we put down our roots, we can find belonging when we are held continually by him, the true vine. The people of God are no longer associated with a territory (the Promised Land), but with the person of Jesus…We bear kingdom fruit not by separating ourselves from the world, but abiding in Jesus where the vinedresser has planted us.”
With love,
Jennifer
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My “sukkah” dinner tent during Feast of the Tabernacles
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