homesick

i was listening to a song while driving with KG on Saturday. Don't remember the guy's name, or much of the song, other than I liked it and he was singing about heaven, about packing his bags because he's ready to go home.

I've thought of that many times, how nice it would be just to leave everything behind and head off to hang out with God forever, but I have to admit my mind generally stays a little more earthbound as a rule. I stopped and thought in the car - how weird is it to be homesick for a place you've never been? I can think of places I have been and would love to go again, Peru, New York, and Colorado being just a short list, but that's because I've experienced those places and a little of what they have to offer. I've heard lots of things about other places that I would love to go one day - the UK, Spain, Italy, Los Angeles, and maybe I'll eventually get there. I think about those places occasionally, especially when I know I have friends to visit, but I think far more often of the places I have been and can't wait to see again.

That's the wierd thing to me about heaven. We're supposed to just long to be there, and keep it in our hearts and minds. CS Lewis even said we're the most useful on earth when our minds are most fixed on heaven. Then how does that work? I can't really take the time to daydream while sitting at my desk each day, between phone calls just staring off into the distance, envisioning golden streets and the thrones of the 24 elders. And I already get distracted enough at home that it takes me sometimes twice as long as it should to do household tasks, what if I were to start daydreaming on top of that?

I realize it's a state of mind, you choose not to be distracted, choose to set your focus there, but I can't seem to get outside of where I'm at. I feel like I have to stay on top of cleaning the house or it's going to fall to pieces, and I'm really not doing that well. I've already fallen behind in making sure that dinner is prepared and taken care of, I can't seem to get myself back into a normal quiet time schedule, how on earth will I manage all that and still dream of being in heaven with God? Maybe that's what Lewis means by being more earthly good if your mind is on heaven. In comparison to heaven and the thought of sharing those dreams with other people, housework seems a bit silly. Maybe I'd be more keen to do things that were really worthwhile if I just had the right motivation.

Now the question is how do I get that motivation?