Moses - No Place To Call Home - Probably a Good Thing!

Exodus 2

We moved around a bit for the 20 plus years my husband was an active duty Marine.  I would often be asked the question where I was from - where was my home.  Most years, I would smile and tell them Camp Lejeune because at that time, that is where I had spent most of my years.  My extended family included the Marine Corps and the LCMS congregation I belonged to.   

As I read chapter 2, I wondered about Moses' roots.  Who did he consider to be his family?  Where did he consider he belonged?  Born a Hebrew; saved by daughter of Pharoah (who had ordered his death as a baby in the first place) to be her son; yet, raised by his own Hebrew mother; it appears he did not live with Pharoah's daughter until he grew up (whatever that means); then running from his foster/adopted grandfather, the Pharoah, he ends up living for many, many years in Midian, acquiring a whole new family there. 

I realize that family is important.  But, what I have noticed over the years (and it's probably due to the fact that I've moved so much) is that people will sometimes be so connected to the people and place that they consider their home (birth place) that they disconnect themselves from the rest of the world, from possible extended families that have much to offer.

Years ago, while working at a juvenille corrections facility one of the most heartbreaking things I witnessed was the desire of these teens to return home no matter how much that home-life had contributed to them being in a correctional facility in the first place.  The youth insisted things would be different this time.  But, I knew it probably wouldn't be different.  Some had stolen and some had sold drugs for parents to help feed their siblings, to help support their parents' habits.  Their parents life-styles hadn't changed and they would expect their children to continue in the life-style they had taught them. 

Some of the foster children my husband and I cared for over the years came from terribly neglectful and abusive homes, yet, the children always wanted to go home.  They always held out the hope that their parents had changed.  I don't recall that ever really happening. 

Where exactly is home?  Where was Moses' home?  Who was his family?  Was he at all attached to Pharoah's daughter - his foster or adopted mother?  Since we know the rest of the story, I wonder if it was easier for Moses to guide the eventual exodus out of Egypt because he really had no place to call home in the first place.  Was he open to God's call because he had no permanent attachment to a place?  His attachment it seems was to people, oppressed people:  the Hebrew people, the women at the well who were discriminated against.

May God help us to remember that this world is a very small place, but it is filled with people who need to be cared for and loved.  It doesn't matter where you are, God has placed all around you people to love and care for.