The effect of being cherished is to make us feel ‘at home’. That is to say, we experience a feeling of at-home-ness that does not depend on being in a certain place or with certain people, but is an experience of welcome, strengthening, acceptance, care. There are people with whom one can feel at-home-ness in a park.

The desire for ‘at-home-ness’ is a demonstration of spirituality, a deep yearning, the expression of profound motivation. A lighted window in a darkened house, a fire kindled, a bowl of flowers on a table, clean sheets, are all powerful symbols of the longing of the human spirit for at-home-ness, for sanctuary, for a place of safety, of cherishing, a strong place, a place that reaches out generously to embrace us when we are weary and battered.

Struggles to Love  The Spirituality of Beatitudes  By Kathy Galloway