I Just Wanna Go Home

 I was in seventh grade. The entire school  (1st through 12th grade) was on one campus. Sure there were different buildings for the elementary, junior high and high school – but they were all on the same property.

I was surprised and a little nervous when I heard my name called over the intercom. “Robin Wigginton please come to office.” The walk down the hall seemed to take forever and to rush by at the same time.

I tried to recall every detail of my day. to see what I had done to warrant a summons to the principal’s office. What could it be? Was I really in trouble?

When I walked into the secretary’s part of the office, the principal was standing at his doorway. “Are you Robin?” he asked.

“Yes sir.”

“Do you have a little brother in first grade?”

“Yes sir,” I answered again.

“Go down to the elementary building to your little brother’s classroom. It seems he is upset about something and is asking to go home. His teacher wants you to talk to him.”

I breathed a huge sigh of relief! I wasn’t in trouble at all. The principal told me to check in at the elementary office first. Someone there showed me where John’s classroom was. I knocked softly on the door and his teacher came out first.

“Oh he is not happy at all right now and he keeps asking to go home,” said his teacher. “Talk to him to see if you can calm him down a little.”

The teacher called John out in the hallway. He had this sad but determined look on his face. Our conversation went something like this:

“What’s wrong, John?”

“I wanna go home.”

“Why do you want to go home?”

“I just do. That’s all. Go call Mom.”

“I can’t call Mom. She doesn’t have a way to come get you.”

“Well call Dad then. I wanna go home.”

“Dad is working. What happened?”

“Nothing.”

“Are you sick?”

“No”

“Did you get in a fight with someone?”

“No. I just wanna go home.”

“Did someone make fun of you or hurt your feelings?”

“No, Robin. I. Just. Want. To go. Home.”

I was getting nowhere. Clearly, John was upset. Tears were in his eyes, but he kept fighting them back. My heart went out to him. I sighed heavily. What could I do or say?

I wanted to hug him up and tell him everything would be OK. But he would be so embarrassed if I did that, even if there was no one in the hall to see it.

Finally, I said “Look John. You can’t go home right now. There’s not much school time left. It is already way after lunch, and we will get to leave soon. The time will go by really fast and we’ll be home before you know it.”

John pulled himself together. We opened the door and he went back to his desk. But the teacher called me to hers. “ I think I see what the problem is, but I didn’t think about it until just now.”

She showed me some board work from early this morning. There were like four lines on the sheet of paper. One line had a frown face on it. He messed up something – but all the other lines were smiley faces. As soon as I saw that, I knew that was why he wanted to go home.

Even at that age, John was a perfectionist. He got upset with himself when he didn’t do everything right. That one frowny face did a number on him. He wanted to go to a place where he felt safe and confident. That was home. His safe place was home.

When the storms of trouble seem to rage on all sides… when we are hurt or suffer loss .. when we are disappointed in ourselves or when someone has betrayed us – where do we look forward to going?

Aren’t all of us looking for the place where we will be safe at last and forever? The place where we will be loved and feel confident? Don’t we all long for that beautiful place called heaven?

Hang in there ladies. For most of us, it is already way after lunch. For the others who are still in the early part of their day, the time will go by fast. We will all be home before we know it.

And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.” Revelation 21:4

Christ above all things - Robin