Homeward Bound

I just got home from spending a long weekend in Dallas. My niece was blessed* on Sunday and all but one brother was there. It's the first time my family has all been together in one place in almost 3 years and we didn't get a group picture. I stayed a day after everyone else left and woke up to this song playing in my headphones this morning. As you readers know, I have a difficult time sleeping so when I'm not in my own bed/abode I sleep with headphones in and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir's album "Love is Spoken Here" playing. It's quite soothing and each song feels like a lullaby.

 I particularly love this song so much and I've been singing it all day. Marta Keen's lyrics and the melody are just so beautiful to me. They remind me of the lines in "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing" that say "Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love. Here's my heart. Oh, take and seal it. Seal it for thy courts above."

These lines in particular run through my head over and over. They're like a promise; if you allow me to make my own choices eventually I will return to the home and God I love.

"Bind me not to the pasture. 
Chain me not to the plow. 
Set me free to find my calling 
and I'll return to you somehow. 

If you find it's me you're missing,
if you're hoping I'll return, 
To your thought I'll soon be listening; 
in the road I'll stop and turn, 
Then the wind will set me racing 
as my journey nears its end, 
And the path I'll be retracing 
when I'm homeward bound again."


*A baby blessing is similar to a christening in theory. But, no godparents are named and infant baptism is not performed. It is simply put a public presentation of the new baby to the congregation where the child's name is officially given and a prayer for all the blessings she will need throughout her life is pronounced.