My son and daughter-in-love moved into their new house yesterday.
Not to be overlooked at all, five days ago, Josh and Meagan had a little girl, Isabelle – their fourth child. And since then, they continued prepping for this anticipated move.
Back to yesterday, when my husband and I brought dinner to them. The moving van parked in the driveway was unloaded, but most of the boxes in the various rooms were still taped closed.
Isabelle, oblivious to all that needed to be done, slept in the porta-crib in the living room. Dinner was ignored as the three older kids carried boxes to different rooms. There was no way we were going to get that house organized in an evening, so we focused on the most important thing: getting the beds put together. At the end of a long day that involved a lot of hard work for everyone, you need a place to rest.
And isn’t that an important quality of a home – being a place of rest?
There have been times I’ve wanted a larger house. Times I’ve wanted a cleaner house. Times I’ve wanted a house with a bit more style, but I just can’t quite pull off an HGTV model home, even if I do like watching quite a few of the TV shows.
What do I want most in a home? It’s encapsulated in a wooden sign posted in my dining room. When I saw the sign in a store featuring local artisans, I cried. It says:
“Somebody told me that this is the place where everything is better and everything’s safe.” ~Home
For me, home is where you are safe – and that’s why home is where everything is better.
There’s nothing wrong with having a big house. Or a clean house. Or spending big bucks on renovating your house.
But there’s something very, very wrong when you don’t feel safe in your home.
The best kind of home is where everything – and everyone – is safe.
It’s not loving to be asked to keep secrets where you or others in your family are being hurt. You may be living in the same house with people who are not safe – but I hesitate to call that place a “home.”
I’m realistic enough to know that no family is perfect. That’s where love and forgiveness come into play. But home, in the truest sense of the word, is a haven from hurt, not the cause of it. And despite the long-held belief that we can’t go home again – thank you, Thomas Wolfe – we should want to go home again because we know we’re loved and accepted there like we are no other place in the world.
I’ve had people give me different compliments after being in my home over the years. The one that has meant the most? A friend came over and fell asleep on my couch one Sunday afternoon — and I loved the fact that he felt comfortable enough to do just that. Later on, as he left, he said, “Your home is so peaceful.”
Even now, years later, I hug those words close to my heart. I haven’t always dwelt in peace … haven’t always known peace. But I came to know grace and peace through my faith, and it’s made a difference in my life. And so, when my friend experienced peace in my home, that was tangible evidence of true change in my life.
You have to be intentional to create a place where everything is better and everything is safe. But when you do, then you’ve established a home where the door is always open … and people trust that they are always welcome.
Being Intentional About the Home You Create for Your Family http://bit.ly/2KicnEI #home #family Click To Tweet
'The ache for home lives in all of us, the safe place where we can go as we are and not be questioned.' Quote by Maya Angelou http://bit.ly/2KicnEI #home #perspective Click To Tweet
Today is the last day of the $1.99 e-book sale of Moments We Forget, book 2 in my “Little Women gone wrong” series!
Today is the last day of the $1.99 #ebook sale of Moments We Forget by @bethvogt! Don't miss this 'Little Women gone wrong' drama exploring the complicated dynamics of #sister relationships. https://t.co/QisI2AnTTT @Crazy4Fiction Click To Tweet
Comments 10
Beth, I loved this post. Your thoughts about home resonated with my heart. I grew up in a home where I knew I was loved. And I pray that’s what Hubs and I are providing our boys. And for the record, your home is peaceful.
Author
Jeanne, thank you for your kind words. 🙂 It is so vital to know you are loved — to have that security as your foundation, day in and day out.
Congratulations, Meagan and Josh, and welcome, Isabelle!
Where once the fight could not intrude
is now become a battlefield,
whose very walls are blood-imbued
with determination not to yield.
Where once stood the soft divan
and the graceful dim lamp-stand,
bright lights outline the grim war-plan,
and weapons fall to practised hand.
The wedding-pictures on the wall
gaze out with puzzled faces
on days they’d not foreseen to fall
with all their gentle graces.
We miss the good life, now purloined
and lost with cancer’s battle joined.
Author
Hello, my friend: I know that you and Barb face the battle together — and that is a testament to your commitment to one another. You honor your relationship, day in and day out. Praying for you, friend.
Wow, Josh and fam. have had a lot going on in 5 days, amazing new starts in several directions. And I love the peace in your home which you have carefully and very intentionally created. Wonderful. It oozes from your lives even when you don’t speak and is captured in your present and future books–wonderful!
Author
Dee: One of my favorite memories is when you visited our home and prayed over our guest room. I do believe those prayers linger still.
What a beautiful post! Home should definitely be everything you described. We just finished a house renovation and the best part of having it done is feeling like we’re home again. Strangers are no longer coming and going every day, our family is making dinner together once again, and we have a place to welcome family and friends. It’s once again safe and welcoming.
Author
Erin: Congratulations on finishing that renovation. I wrote a kitchen reno into book 2 in my Thatcher Sisters Series because renos are so disruptive. Not sure I’d want to experience one in real life.
Congratulations on the new addition to the family, and their new home.
Home…so true on being intentional in its creation.
Author
Thank you, Denise. And yes, we can’t be haphazard about our words and actions when it comes to our families.