Homesick ?

Sometime ago, my wife and I embarked on an immigration plan as we began to feel sick of the system in our home country and planned to migrate to New Zealand but later shelved the idea as we did not feel comfortable with it either. Ten years down the line, in 2011 we moved to the UAE.

Walking through the streets of Ajman, UAE near my workplace as part of my post-lunch walk, I get to see spacious villas of the locals. I think of my own independent parental house back in India and I miss life there so much. I always loved the space around our house and I think of the times I used to play cricket with my nephews in our compound. I also loved to walk by the flowerbeds where my Mom grew a variety of flowers and by all the row of flower pots my sister-in-law maintained. I loved it when Pepper, our dog had so much fun running around the house trying to escape from my mother's plot to keep him chained. It makes so much of a difference to have your own house and space and live there. They say, "East or West, Home is best"!!

Having come here, it is a different scenario. We get to see huge towering apartments housing a mass that is equivalent to a locality in India -  an entire locality into one tall vertical structure. For example, the building we live in has fifteen floors of residences besides three floors of parking, with eighteen flats on each floor. This is a structure that houses two hundred and seventy apartments totally. These are the kind of structures where most middle income expatriate communities live here in the UAE.

In contrast, most locals live in palatial independent villas with  huge compounds. Some have beautiful gardens with exquisite plants, flowers and trees. Some houses have pet animals and birds, too. Most of these houses have many bedrooms to house a large family. It is something that is available mostly for the locals and a few privileged expats who either get to have a leasehold for some years or avail it as part of their corporate benefit.

Sometimes I wish I'd get to own a mansion like one of them someday. But knowing it is a far cry in this place for someone like me, I get that gentle reminder from God that our citizenship is not here, but it's beyond the here and now. We do not have a lasting city this side of heaven. We await a city that will come down from heaven. We are to wait for the imminent second coming of the Lord when we will be raptured into His eternal presence. For here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come - Hebrews: 13:14.

I am reminded of the song by Jim Reeves that I loved singing - "This world is not my home, I'm just  passing through...".

Another song that comes to my mind is the song "I've Got A Mansion Just Over The Hilltop" which still is a favourite to me.

Here in the UAE, we can only be residents, never it's citizens. Our citizenship is in heaven, our home is beyond the blue and our mansions are in glory! Never get attached to things of this earth!!