42.592 ° N. 88.433 ° W.
These are the numbers where my heart lies. These numbers hold the destination of my childhood. The place that is home. With the turn of the wheel after a short two-hour drive, the name “Sybil Lane” painted across a worn out, light blue wooden sign welcomes me home to a single black-topped lane with cottages hugging each of its sides.
As you walk down the lane, you can see the worn path of the footprints and memories of the sweet two months of summer in this sacred place for all of those who find themselves bound here. From the footprints of a child running to the pier for one more jump into the water to the footprints of the worn out soles of an old soul as they come down the lane reflecting on what this place. During the walk down the lane, each person, in every phase of life, discovers the relationship with something that is so much more than just two coordinates on a map being explored.
Along this path that leads to the water, is the heartbreak, love and pure simplicity of living that makes them grow, ultimately defining them. As their skin wrinkles with time, they return to their walk down the old paved lane and find themselves. As they look at the trails of their stories and see the trails of others, in others’ experiences they find themselves all walking the same lane.
They discover the connections that this place brings, as it unifies each life that walks through this journey of life. Nearing the end of their journey, they find that their story is unfolding before their eyes in a younger soul that walks the same path of the lane.
Yet, in all the phases of life, at any point in their walk, if they seek those two coordinates, they find themselves in the corner of the world that God gives each of them to call home. In a life that isn't promised, with hearts that are inferior to time, there is strength in a home where you can see its power at work in your life and others.
