Homeward Bound

I've spent some time this past week seeking additions to my November playlist and I found a "new" song (new to me) that has my heart stirring. "Homeward Bound," written by Marta Keen Thompson, is a very powerful, very emotional, very meaningful song. I've thought so much about it, both when I'm listening to it, and when I'm not. I've listened to several different arrangements and performances, but my favorite so far is by BYU's Vocal Point combined with the All-American Boys Choir.

I think there are many messages and possible interpretations in these lyrics, all of them profound. My first thoughts were of my children and how they need to find their own missions in life and not be chained to whatever my issues or plans are. I have always been an independent person myself and I understand that urge to forge and seek and find my own way on the open road. As insanely hard as it is, it is absolutely right for my children to grow up and be who they want and need to be. This doesn't mean a severing of ties or a dissolving of the family; the road that leads away from home is not one way. 

Of course, my thoughts always turn to education, and specifically homeschooling, and how it should facilitate these higher ideals. With a son currently serving a mission and another preparing to go, the growth I see in both of them as the mature and become their own men is amazing. It is ever so hard to say goodbye, but how it would hurt them if I bound them to my pasture and didn't let them go where they needed and were supposed to go. It's both my pleasure and my pain to prepare them as best I can for whatever journeys lay ahead.

Second, I thought of the Plan of Salvation and how each of us leaves our Heavenly Home to find and fulfill our earthly missions and callings. I wonder if I leaped from my Celestial moorings with too much anticipation to look back longingly, or if I turned to wave and sigh and take a mental picture, hoping I'd get back someday.

Bryce Haymond has many other musings on the meaning of "Homeward Bound" that are worth reading and thinking about. Other meaningful musings come from those who had a hand in putting Vocal Point's arrangement and video together (see video below). In the end, I hope we are all homeward bound, metaphorically, spiritually, and in reality. This song makes me thankful for agency, for growth, for music, and for the ability to see and understand truth.