"I Am Holding Half An Acre"

Heading home can be a revitalizing, humbling experience for those who do not often visit the place in which they grew up.  For me, home is in Virginia.  I look out my window and am thankful for the bright colors of the leaves changing.  Hues of yellows, oranges, greens, browns signify the coming of the Fall season in my home state.  The air outside has a nip of cold that you can feel coming as sure as winter, but the temperature outside is a comfortable 65.  Home to me at this time of year reminds me of the Harvest as many celebrate holidays like Halloween or All Saints' Day.

For others going home or being home is not such a pleasant experience.  Memories of pain, loss or suffering can burden some minds who find it difficult to be at home.

In honor of the idea of returning home now or in the coming months with the holidays, I share with you a song that Medi Hospice Chaplain Erin shared with the hospice staff in efforts to provide a moment of reflection and peace.  The song is entitled "Half Acre" by Hem.  It also happens to be one of my favorites.  Enjoy.

Half Acre

  I am holding half an acre
Torn from the map of Michigan
And folded in this scrap of paper
Is a land I grew in

Think of every town you've lived in
Every room, you lay your head
And what is it that you remember?

Do you carry every sadness with you
Every hour your heart was broken
Every night the fear and darkness
Lay down with you

A man is walking on the highway
A woman stares out at the sea
And light is only now just breaking

So we carry every sadness with us
Every hour our heart were broken
Every night the fear and darkness
Lay down with us

But I am holding half an acre
Torn from the map of Michigan
I am carrying this scrap of paper

That can crack the darkest sky wide open
Every burden taken from me
Every night my heart unfolding
My home