Home is a place of thought, not a material structure. We are "at home" when we are conscious of God's love for us—and for all. When we are convinced of God's abundance and man's reflection of it, what does place matter?

The coldness of a limited sense of home was well described by the poet Robert Frost:"... the place where, when you have to go there, /They have to take you in." Human homes range from joyous to pleasant to cruel. They are composed of sometimes congenial but always fallible mortals. And without the touch of divine Spirit, home is not home at all.

Home is really heavenly consciousness, our realization of the all-power and all-presence of our Father-Mother God.

Mrs. Eddy states her marvelous conception of home: "Pilgrim on earth, thy home is heaven; stranger, thou art the guest of God." ^{Science and Health, p.254;} This home is reached by opening the door of humility with the key of prayer. The door is never locked; nobody ever turns us away. This home is never broken by divorce or death. It is always available and never changes. There is always a ready welcome there.

The need to heal a broken sense of home was never more urgent than it is today. A growing number of young people are without real family life or even without a place to live. My teen son, over a period of time, brought to our house some displaced friends to stay "because they have nowhere else to go." At first, I reacted like Charles Dickens's Scrooge: "Are there no prisons? . . . And the Union workhouses? Are they still in operation?" Not understanding my role, I behaved erratically, angrily. I said "no way" at first; but, feeling guilty, not sure of my ground, I allowed one boy to stay awhile. What started out to be a temporary residency for a boy with problems became rather permanent. Just talking about ways to solve his problems only confused the issue. I was ready to give up—send him to a social agency or flatly order him out—when I decided to pray. I pondered the Bible and the writings of Mary Baker Eddy, eventually coming up with a broader, more satisfying concept of home.

Jesus, during his ministry, traveled much, living here or there with families not his own. He had the priceless healing message of the Christ to give to those families, and he undoubtedly brought— wherever he came—a wonderful new sense of home. Yet he may have seemed rootless to some. Mrs. Eddy as an adult was forced by circumstances to live for a number of years with no fixed home. Though many were blind to what she was achieving in those early years, she was in fact helping to establish her, and our, spiritual home, through bold sacrifices of material things.

Christ Jesus regarded all of humanity as in reality children of God, reflecting Him. This allowed him to cherish mankind as his human family, literally. "And the multitude sat about him, and they said unto him, Behold, thy mother and thy brethren without seek for thee. And he answered them, saying, Who is my mother, or my brethren? And he looked round about on them which sat about him, and said, Behold my mother and my brethren!" ^{Mark 3:32-34.}

Without a confrontation, the "pilgrim" in our home eventually left in a harmonious and progressive way to continue his journey from sense to Soul, whether he knew it or not. Each person's experience with displaced youth is unique. Who can give a human pattern to follow in each case? Indifference to the puzzle or disassociation from it is not humane or Christian. What can we do about it? We can pray. We can affirm a heavenly home for all. And if you find a homeless young person at your door today, just...You'll know what to do.