We Are Not Home Yet

   This story is one Kenny came across and it was at a time that I needed to hear it. I did some research and even though some accounts of the story say it was Theodore Roosevelt that was the politician and Henry Morrison was the missionary, I also found places that it is a fictional story. For that reason, I am going to tell the story as we first heard it, without any names.

    

   A missionary and his wife were sailing home from serving most of their lives on the mission field in Africa. They were tired, worn out and discouraged from the many hard things they had faced over the past 40 years. They had given their all and were coming home with nothing to show for it.

  On this same boat was a politician who had just spent ten days in Africa hunting big game. He had been very successful and was coming home, proud of his trophies. He had a group of men with him and they were all jubilant with their success.

  As the boat neared the port, they could see a large crowd gathered on the shore. There were welcome banners and people cheering. The boat docked and the first person down the gang plank was the politician. Greeted by cheering crowds and much fanfare he was soon whisked away.

  The missionary watched and sighed. He picked up his bags and saw the two men waiting by a car to take them to their new home. He said to his wife, “It just isn’t fair. This man spends ten days hunting and is greeted as a hero when he returns home. We gave 40 years of our lives and no one notices.”

  His wife looked at him and said simply, “But we aren’t home yet!”

 

How those words have made my eyes fill with tears over and over again. Now I want to be clear, never have we gone back to the US and not been welcomed. We are always welcomed with more fuss and attention then we would like. But there are many days when we are discouraged or tired. There are days when we work hard behind the scenes and it feels like all that gets noticed is what we didn’t do well. We try to help people and they tell us what we didn’t do, instead of thanking us for what we did do. And I don’t think this is just us, or just missionaries, I think it happens to everyone. We feel overwhelmed and unappreciated. We do our best, only to get told we didn’t do enough. We serve early and late, only to be told there is still more we should have done. We wish for just a little gratefulness. To see the fruit of our labors and feel like we have done a job well. To see someone’s life changed by the sacrifices we make.

  But guess what? We aren’t home yet! Praise and rewards on this earth hold no comparison to the glory of the Home we are going to. The weariness and discouragement we face here will fade away into nothingness when we got Home.

  God does give us joy and so, so many blessings while we are on this earth. But He also wants to draw us closer to Him. He also wants us to long to go Home. Would we truly long for heaven is this life were perfect here?

  The next time you are discouraged or you feel like the things you do don’t matter; remember that they do. You might never know the affects of your little deeds of kindness. At least not until you get Home.