Tales from a foreign land.

It smells like a blog post.

“Dear sweet Lord!” are the words that come to mind as I sit here and think about how long it’s been since I’ve written. But on the other hand, how appropriate it is that I’ve chosen to start writing at the very moment that I’ve been back in Dublin for exactly two weeks. Strange. How time flies. Especially since most days I feel like I never left…and then others are blatant, obvious pictures of the two years that I’ve been away from this place.

I’m still feeling my way around, you see. Still adjusting to the sounds of accents (and not just Irish). Driving on the left side of the road, on the left side of the car. Wondering which bin bags to purchase at the local Superquinn. Thinking about which dress to wear to my friends’ wedding on Saturday. Hoping that, no matter how hard I try, I’ll stop eating chocolate bickies every time I drink tea. Knowing that as I begin to call this place “home”, I’ll never really understand it. Etc. Etc. Etc.

I wanted to call this blog “Tales from a Foreign Land”, not just because I made the move to Dublin. Because as I settle in here, I’m realizing more and more my longing for Heaven…my home. That no matter where I lay my head now, I’m still in a foreign land. And I want, more than anything, to express that longing to the people around me, wherever I may be. Right now, that is here, in Ireland. I want others to see the ache and know it, too.

All this to say, I know it will take time. Relationships take time. Settling into a foreign place takes time. But I never want to be so settled with the relationships and my earthly reality that I forget about the want for Heaven.

So…that’s what I wanted to say, for now. These are the thoughts at hand. There have been, however, more than SEVERAL silly encounters that have happened since I’ve been back…but more on that later.

“All these died in faith, without receiving the promises, but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance, and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a country of their own. And indeed if they had been thinking of that country from which they went out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; for He has prepared a city for them.”
Hebrews 11:13-16