I haven’t seen much of my husband lately. It’s a side-effect of Dana’s day job and his having grown up in Maine, working alongside his father, who ran a campground. By age 10, Dana and his two older brothers began learning how to drive a tractor, split wood, shock a well, run electricity and plumbing and build whatever was needed.

I used to joke that I’d married the plumber, the electrician and the handyman. Lately, Dana has been filling the role of all three as he swings by our new fixer-upper after work to nail, sand, stain and finish our pine floors. The rest of us — in between painting and picking up second-hand deals from Craigslist — are hanging out at our current home in Bath until the new house is ready.

Part of me would love to be all moved in — particularly as the temperature plummets and my hibernation instinct kicks in! The other part is grateful for the extra time to pack and prepare. But, most of all, I miss my husband, who now arrives home after I’ve gone to bed.

I’m not alone in feeling his absence.

“When is Daddy coming back?” my 5-year-old son asked the other evening.

“Late,” I said. “He’s getting our new house ready.”

In this peculiar, between place, I find myself mulling over Christ’s words to his followers. In preparing them for his death and resurrection — and, eventually, their own — he said, “In my Father’s house are many dwelling places… I go to prepare a place for you,” John 14:2. He then promised that one day he would return for them, “that where I am, there you may also be.”

These words — some of the most hopeful of Scripture — have yet to occur. Christians around the world believe that Jesus will return. Some well-known preachers, watching the unfolding of world events, caution that it may be soon.

Scripture doesn’t pinpoint the day this will happen — although many have tried. But as I wait for my husband each evening, I am reminded to prepare. In Christ’s absence — in this peculiar, between place — I want to live wisely, to love unreservedly, and to give generously. Whether Christ returns in my lifetime or not, my time is limited, and I want to use it well.

I am also filled with wonder at the thought that Christ himself is preparing a place for me and for all who receive him. “To as many as received him, to them he gave the power to become the children of God,” John 1:12.

What will that future home look like? The folk musician Keith Green sang, “I can’t wait to get to heaven, when you’ll wipe away all my tears. In six days you created everything, but you’ve been working on heaven two thousand years.”

Meantime, I want to be looking as eagerly for the return of Christ as I look for the return of my husband, heart quickening when I hear the creak of his step on the stairs.

MEADOW RUE MERRILL is a Mid-coast Maine writer who shares about God in her everyday life through “Faith Notes.” For more, go to www.meadowrue.com where you can follow her on Twitter or Facebook.