11/3/2023 2 Comments The Power of Bringing Life to Home“Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” Galatians 6:9 “Who do you think’s gonna win, mom?” He asks me, knowing the outcome already in his mind. He’s ready for battle but needs my take on it before shots are fired. I smile and pause a minute looking at the troops of green soldiers facing off with the SWAT team dressed in black plastic suits. “My money’s on SWAT”, I say. He nods and invites me down on the floor to conveniently play the losing team. The next morning, I tiptoe around those heal-piercing army men laying defeated on the rug. In the darkened living room lit only by the pellet stove, I cautiously make my way closer to the kitchen, the strong smell of freshly brewed coffee fills the air as my bare feet remind me to find socks ASAP! I light a candle labeled fall apple crisp and pour myself a hot mug of coffee - cream and maple syrup, candle in hand, I find my morning spot by the lamp and the stack of family bibles. There’s this line in one of the Hobbit movies that rings through our house on random Friday nights. I don’t follow the storyline as well as some of my children, but to the best of my understanding, one wounded and dying character says to his friend in painful, strained breaths, “Go back to your books, your fireplace, plant your trees, watch them grow, if more of us valued home above gold, it would be a merrier world.”
Books, trees, fireplace - the full picture of home in three words…. Well, maybe not a full picture - there’s also crying babies, dirty dishes, broken washing machines, un-swept floors, little boy squabbles and late husbands. Now, THAT’S the full picture of home. Home. It’s the place we long for when we’re away, and the place we need to, “get out of” when we’ve been there too much. Plenty of people have said it, “I need to get out of the house more.” I know I’ve felt it. But in those moments of seemingly desperate release from the walls you’ve built with your own hands, Mama - hold fast. When it feels as if all you need is to open the door and leave, do not let your weariness grow so heavy that the good you’ve done is forsaken - a harvest is at your fingertips. The home is made for more than perfect moments and lovely parties. It’s a place of fighting back the darkness and exchanging it with light. The light that’s within you to bring beauty and grace to the people living alongside you. It’s the precious gift of every woman to draw close the ones she loves and realign their hearts with hers, to battle evil with goodness and claim for herself and her family, a holy ground in which all who dwell within will flourish. So, light the candles, bake the cookies, fold the load and kiss the cheeks of the ones next to you. The work you’re doing is bigger than you know, and it will return in the grandest of ways if you hold fast again and again. The home you make is more precious than gold. There’s truth in that quote of trees, books and fireplaces making ready a space of treasured territory. What are your three words of home?
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Author"My life passes as swiftly as the evening shadows. I am withering away like grass." Psalm 102:11 Archives
March 2024
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