"Mama, I can't wait to come home and just be together as a family."
Every home has its own personality. The favorite food cherished, the traditions kept, the emotional song within the relationships inside the walls, the flowers planted, and they reflect the ones who live within. Each of us longs for home to be the place we are loved, invited as we are, part of the crowd.
With the chaos of voices clamoring for our soul allegiance, the pressures to conform to cultural values, the constant compromise of moral values, and the redefining of family structure, the world can be a calamitous, draining and confusing place.
Satan comes as an angel of light, always seeking to draw away the allegiance of every human being from the values of the kingdom of God, and our heart allegiance from God our Creator and King.
Yet, home can hold one and keep them fast to the values and faith celebrated within the treasure of the community valued there. Home fires, traditions shared, meals eaten in fellowship together discussing over life, values upheld, histories made and stories told and celebrated are the roots that go deep into the heart of a child to keep them tethered to the truth of the gospel and the foundations of faith.
It is our history and roots that keep us faithful and give us the strength to refuse the draw of Satan.
We craft the beauty of the kingdom of home, so we and our children and our husbands have a place to belong, a history to uphold, a purpose to guide our decisions and our ways. The accountability of a family who loves one another and says, "I am here for you. I believe in you. I need you. I will help you," calls to the desires in each person to have a place where they are valued and belong.
Now I am in a new place for a season, and will need to find ways to make it “home” for as long as we are here. It will take time to fill these rooms with the memories of deep discussions and shared meals, caresses and chores, music and work.
The life of our home is not just about "House Beautiful", but it is a "life" that draws the heart to all that is true. The crafting of our home-life validates the reality of God's love and redemption in a place that satisfies souls that long for stability and foundations that cannot be shaken.
Creating a home is about the Life of Jesus incarnating the moments with love, truth, beauty, and faith so that every child who leaves its walls will always have a place to come home to and feel that they will always have the gift of belonging to a people, a history and a place that is safe and strong—no matter how long we’ve been there.