Some children grow up without a traditional home, but most of us lived at one address for several years at a stretch, moving only a handful of times while growing up. We were fed, cared for, kept clean and given proper rest in those homes, and we were loved.

Moving away from home can be traumatic for children and adults alike. But the bottom line is not about where but who. If family relationships are grounded in love, a move with the right people is all it takes to calm us.

Linnea and Adam arrived in Michigan this week bringing a home along with them, a motor home. Their borrowed RV made the 1200 mile journey part of their family vacation fun, especially for 3 year old Skylar and 18 month old Micah. This mini-home had everything needed to cover the miles without leaving home: a refrigerator, stove, bathroom, table and benches, couch, cabinets, microwave, shower, even a queen size bed.

And as excited as Skylar was to give me a tour of their home-on-wheels, her most important point was letting me know where Daddy sat to do the driving and what Mommy did in the back. Nice as it was, without those two, it wouldn’t have been a home at all.

Maya Angelou said, “The ache for home lives in all of us,” a good way to describe the desire each of us has to belong to a group bound together by love. I think it even goes deeper than that. All of us want to be accepted as we are, in an environment where no one tries to change us. We want a place to go where the love shown doesn’t depend on our performance like it does when we’re away from home in the work place, in school, in the neighborhood, in certain friendships. We know if there’s a chance for love to be unconditional anyplace, it’ll probably be at home.

Unfortunately, most homes can’t offer that kind of flawless love. We often expect more from each other than can be given, and a perfect home doesn’t exist. Well, that’s not quite true. Those of us who believe in heaven have a perfect home life awaiting us.

I often think of Nate in this regard, not quite sure what phase of heaven or paradise he’s experiencing but quite sure he’s surrounded by unconditional, perfect love. He’s made a big move away from our family home here on earth where love was flawed and is now dwelling in something Jesus labeled “paradise.”

We’ve all heard the expression, “Love begins at home.” That’s literally true. It begins.

Thankfully it doesn’t end there, since disappointments and imperfections are found at every address. Instead we can look forward to an eventual home of loving perfection and complete acceptance. And most importantly, the right Person will be there, ensuring that this place will be the home we’re all aching to find.

And we won’t even need a well-equipped RV to get there.

“They [Old Testament people of faith] were looking for a better place, a heavenly homeland. That is why God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.” (Hebrews 11:16)