Seeking Wisdom

Jeremiah 31:1-7 At that time, says the LORD, I will be the God of all the tribes of Israel, and they shall be my people. Thus says the LORD: The people that escaped the sword have found favor in the desert. As Israel comes forward to be given his rest, the LORD appears to him from afar: With age-old love I have loved you; so I have kept my mercy toward you. Again I will restore you, and you shall be rebuilt, O virgin Israel; Carrying your festive tambourines, you shall go forth dancing with the merrymakers. Again you shall plant vineyards on the mountains of Samaria; those who plant them shall enjoy the fruits. Yes, a day will come when the watchmen will call out on Mount Ephraim: “Rise up, let us go to Zion, to the LORD, our God.” For thus says the LORD: Shout with joy for Jacob, exult at the head of the nations; proclaim your praise and say: The LORD has delivered his people, the remnant of Israel. "With age-old love I have loved you... O virgin Israel&q

On Wednesday morning I tell my roommate that I'm going home for the weekend. On Sunday afternoon I tell my parents that I'd better be heading home soon. Somehow these both make sense. What do I mean when I say "home?" Surely it's not the house, or even the town, I grew up in. When I go to visit my parents it's nearly always at a place they bought just two years ago. Is it the place I've slept most often in the past year? That seems a bit functional and transient for something we have a reckoning of being beyond logistics and having some enduring character. A good friend told me that home for him has always been where his parents are, or somehow contained in his relationship with them. When he's been in Bolivia, or Nicaragua, or northern Michigan, he can get that feeling of connection to home by talking with his parents on the phone. This question is dominant in the 2001 movie Joe Dirt . When David Spade's character returns to where he grew up