Nearer Home

O’er the hill the sun is setting,
And the eve is drawing on,
Slowly drops the gentle twilight,
For another day is gone,
Gone for aye, its race is over,
Soon the dark’ning shades will come,
Still ’tis sweet to know at evening,
We are one day nearer home.
Still ’tis sweet to know at evening,
We are one day nearer home.

Nearer home, nearer home,
Oh, ‘tis always sweet to know
We are one day nearer home,
Nearer home; nearer home,
Oh, ‘tis always sweet to know at even,
We are one day nearer home.

Something else I read about Elisabeth Elliott recently said that one of her favorite camp songs growing up was called Nearer Home. It was something she evidently thought about quite a bit as she grew older and started losing her memory due to dementia. This speaks to anyone who is facing their own mortality or the mortality of a loved one. We as believers in Christ are truly getting nearer home each and ever day:

“One day nearer, sings the sailor,
As he glides the waters o’er,
While the light is softly dying,
On his distant native shore,
Thus the Christian, on life’s ocean,
As his lightboat cuts the foam,
In the evening cries with rapture,
I am one day nearer home.
In the evening cries with rapture,
I am one day nearer home.

Nearer home, nearer home,
Oh, ‘tis always sweet to know
We are one day nearer home,
|Nearer home; nearer home,
Oh, ‘tis always sweet to know at even,
We are one day nearer home.

Nearer home, yes, one day nearer,
To our home beyond the sky,
To the green fields and the fountains,
In our Father’s home on high,
For the heav’ns are growing brighter,
And the lamps hang in the dome,
And our hearts are growing lighter,
For we’re one day nearer home.

Nearer home, nearer home,
Oh, ‘tis always sweet to know
We are one day nearer home,
Nearer home; nearer home,
Oh, ‘tis always sweet to know at even,
We are one day nearer home.

Father, be near when my feet
Are slipping o’er the brink,
For it may be I am nearer home,
Nearer now than I think” (Alice Carey).

Celebrating 54

It seems lately that the time between birthdays gets shorter and shorter. I feel like I just had a birthday and now I’m having another one? Back in the day, it took forever for my next birthday and now I seem to have one every three months or so.

But honestly, I’m grateful for each one. I know many people, including two uncles and a cousin, who won’t get to celebrate growing old. Aging isn’t a burden that everyone must bear but a privilege that not every one gets to share. I do think that every morning I wake up is a gift from God, so I’m taking my life for granted less and less these days.

This year, I’m officially 54. At one point in my life, that would have seemed really old? Now? Not so much. Now I see people in their 20s and think how they’re super young. I imagine that as a 10 year old even people in their 30s were old to me. It really is about perspective.

Also, birthdays are less about presents and more about presence. It’s not so much the gifts as much as the people sitting around the table. At this point, if all they did was show up and wish me a happy birthday, I think that would be enough. That and a good birthday dessert. But mostly the people.

I love that I get to look forward to my older nephew’s birthday in March, then my younger nephew in April. My sister’s is in June, followed by my niece’s in October. We round off all the birthday shenanigans with my brother-in-law’s in November and my Dad’s in December, not forgetting my Mom’s in January. So basically, I get to look forward to birthdays all throughout the year.

Birthdays are good because birthdays mean that the people you love are still here. And that in and of itself is worth celebrating. Above all, it means we’re celebrating and declaring all over again the goodness of God for giving us people in our lives who love us and are there for us.

I’m certain that I enjoyed my birthday so much that I want to do it all again in 2027, God allowing. Also, thanks to everyone on social media who wished me a happy birthday. I took a short break from my social media fast to read every one of them. I am grateful, and I am blessed.