“for years we have been told that home is where the heart is
~ but I don’t think that’s true
home is where our lungs are my love,
whenever I get lost in the wilds of the world
and I can’t find my way
I inhale
so slowly
~ so deeply
and suddenly I’m right back at home
because I was born out of the holy breath of the Divine
as were you, my love, as were you
the breath of Mystery is our eternal home
the place we existed long before we ever existed
an angel once told me that we were formed so carefully
while we rested in the gusting womb of the Great Love’s sacred gale
our home is the place where Source gently exhaled us into existence
we were created out the of holiest of thin air to become dandelion seeds
moving in the currents of adventure
carrying us from one horizon to the next
~ and whenever the storms of this world become too much for us to endure
~ whenever the woods become so dark that we can no longer see the sky
~ whenever we get so lost in the wilderness that the compass we are holding
turns into sand between our fingers
~ whenever we find ourselves so homesick
that we can’t remember what it feels like to be safe
we can just breathe a big fat breath and hold it
in our chest for a couple moments and suddenly my love,
~ so very suddenly we return home we go right back to where we first started
to the gusting cottage of God’s endless love for us
because the same air that passes through our trembling lips and into our lungs
is the exact same air that Creation breathed on you
when you sparked out of the void
so, my love, when you lose your way out here in the swirl
and you’re so desperate to return home
~ to the familiar place where you felt so safe
~ to the warm dwelling where you knew everything about yourself
~ to the cradle where nothing could ever harm you
you don’t have to click your heels or buy a plane ticket or make a wish
you just have to breathe with purpose
and treat the air inside of you as if it were a prayer
and when you exhale that held breath oh my love,
when you exhale you’ll come back home”
John Roedel, contemporary poet
Chorlton Unitarians 