Home.... what is it? We hear the sayings:
There's No Place Like Home........
Home Is Where The Heart Is..........
Turn Your Heart Toward Home.....
Love Begins At Home.....
Home Sweet home.....
and more.... but what does Home really mean?
Some definitions say that home is one's residence; a dwelling place with one's family; the heart of something; a familiar and usual setting..... and more.
We know home is special.... but why? What makes home.... home? Is it just that building we live in? Well, that is "home", but what makes it special.. what makes it important?
It seems that the people make the home... Home is where we can be ourselves... where we feel comfortable. Hopefully, home is where we feel loved and respected.
Home can be just a name for the place we live... or it can mean so much more.... Hopefully, it is the place we like to return to... the place where we feel safe.... the place we can be built up when we are "down".... the place we belong.
It's nice to have a place where we can just be real.... and be ourselves... not have to put on a front. It is nice to have a place to just relax.
Hopefully, we are able to experience that without taking it too far. We want to maintain respect for others... and not just selfishly expect it. We love to have others care about us... maybe asking how we slept... or how work was... did we have a good day? How nice to have someone care about us.
Do we show that concern for those in our home? Do we build into their lives? Do we seek to lift up... to comfort... to enjoy?
Do we take? or do we give? Do we make home a place to be cherished.... a place to be remembered... a place of hope and love?
How can we build a home that God approves? Not the house, but the home. Do we live for God... IN our home? Do we treat our family....as God SAYS to? Do we love and forgive and build up? We can make such an impact with our families... what we do now... today... will be remembered. No, we aren't perfect.... we will get rushed and irritated... Do we confess sin and ask for forgiveness? Do we apologize? Do we make needed changes?
Do we make our HOMES important?.... or do we make our blogs ABOUT home important... or the stories we tell others ABOUT home important? What will our families remember about home? That we were too busy for them.... or that we loved them and made time for them?
I want to honor God in my home, with my family. I want them to KNOW I love them... and respect them... and that they can come to me. I want them to remember home as a place where they are loved. I want them to see that I love God enough to learn the lessons He sends to me... in humbleness. I want them to remember my kindness to them.... my patience... my cheerfulness.
I want them to look back fondly on these years in our home... and I assume you do also. What are we doing right now, TODAY, to make that happen? Not as a one time special time... but as a consistent ministry to our family. Loving my family is worth the work... and I want to be faithful to do it every day. :) I hope you do also. Thank you for joining me today.
Shared on:
Wednesday Prayer Girls
Simple Saturday
TGI Saturday
Saturday Soiree
Grace and Truth
City of Links
The Charm of Home
Thank Goodness It's Thursday
Foodie Friday and Everything Else
Hearts For Home
Thought Provoking Thursday
On Display Thursday
Share Your Style
Thriving On Thursday
Work In Progress
Paula's No Rules Weekend Party
My husband brought this rose home... I am enjoying the soft delicate pink color. I know that many people like the dark dark red roses.... and he has given me many of those over the years-not often, but now and then. I appreciated them, but something about those dark, almost black velvety roses grew tiresome for me. When asked, I expressed a preferance for pink roses... dark or light pink... or peachy pink.... or creamy pink two toned..... or yellow... or light red... or something other than dark red, but dark red was the main color I received... and they were beautiful and I enjoyed them. Sometimes there would be a few roses... and a few pinks among the reds and sometimes just yellow or pink.
Don't get me wrong.... I appreciated any of the roses he brought...and I told him so. This one is special though, because... he gave me something that I really like.... rather than what he wants me to like... or what he thinks I should like or what he knows is the color "they" say, is the love flower.
This gift went way beyond the flower... and the sweet baby's breath with it.... this one said that he knows ME... and gave a gift to me, for me. Precious.
See.... the deep red roses are the flowers of "love"... so he was expressing his love to me and I am thankful.... but when he knows me and gives me a flower... in a color that HE wouldn't choose, but does because he knows I like it... well, that is special and I feel much more loved as a result. Silly, huh? You know what else is funny? I enjoy those dark red roses so much more now, if they come... or any other color... or none at all... because he knows me more than he used to... and expresses that love sometimes. If I had all pink roses, I am sure I would get tired of them... I guess I enjoy variety also.
It takes time to get to know someone... and marriage is a good place to do that, but sometimes we shy away from being real... from expressing strongly what our desires are... and try to just please our mate. That isn't all bad... but it does make it harder for our mate to really know us. At the same time, life isn't all about "me"... and it would never be right to expect a list of my likes to be consulted before any gifts are given... that would be silly. Marriage takes a lot of work... of negotiating.... of learning... of caring and adjusting... of loving... no matter what.
I have had to learn many things about my husband over the years... he does NOT like saurkraut.... gets nauseated from the smell. The kids and I like saurkraut... and it is so good for us. Early on in our marriage, I helped him to eat in a more healthy way... and he found he likes more than just the foods he thought he would like. There were a few though... saurkraut, sweet potatoes, and more... that he hated. Some he has adjusted to... others he tolerated.... he has recently said he loves sweet potatoes. :) I don't cook them with sugar and marshmallows, but rather just as baked sweet potatoes with butter and cinnamon... or sweet potato casserole with pineapple, butter, cinnamon, onions and apples....and he liked that, but it took years before he realized... he "loved" sweet potatoes. :) Saurkraut will never fall into that category... and I stopped trying a long time ago. We have saurkraut for lunch when he is at work and when the smell will be totally gone before he gets home.
I did not want to have a budget early in our marriage... I resisted it.... and he insisted. I didn't like it... but finally grudgingly went along with the idea. I finally gave it a chance... and found that a budget was so freeing. I had thought it would mean that I would be restricted even more than I already was... but found that knowing exactly how much I would receive for the time frame... was very freeing. I found that I liked knowing what the parameters were of what I needed to work with for groceries, household expenses, clothes, etc instead of him just giving me some money to use and having to ask him if there was enough for this or that.
We keep learning... and accepting.... and loving .... and growing. I am thankful for the beautiful pink rose... but even more than that, I am thankful that my husband showed he loves ME... in a sweet and special way. God loves us even better than that... and His love is always perfect. Do we always see or recognize it? No, but we should... and we need to look for it... and we will find it if we look.
Shared on:
Counting Our Blessings
Modest Mom Monday
Soul Survival
Art of Homemaking Monday
Wednesday Prayer Girls
A Return To Loveliness
Mostly Homemade Monday
