“There’s no place like home, there’s no place like home”
~Dorothy, from The Wizard of Oz
What comes to mind when you think about HOME?
Perhaps it is not so much what we think of but how we feel: relaxed, peaceful, calm, loved, secure, wanted, needed, protected, happy. How do you feel when your are home? Or at your childhood home?
We haven’t lived in this house for a year yet. When we came home on Sunday from a week-long absence, we were so happy to be back. When we opened the door to the house I thought , “ahhhhhhhhhhh, home at last”. The smell was familiar, the sights were familiar. Our relationship to this place was bumped from “still feels a little new”, to “isn’t nice to be back where we belong”.
Where else can we sit and read a note from a friend on our very own front porch, in our very own rocker, next to our very own little table that’s decorated with a jar of roses and a doily made by our very own Great Grandma?
I read a delightful children’s book when we were away. The book was about animals in nature and each chapter was themed. In the chapter titled, “Home”, I read this quote:
“Whatever the plant or creature,
there is a certain place that suits it best,
a place where it feels a measure of
abundance, security, comfort, and familiarity.
Such a place becomes ‘Home’.”
and this one:
“Find yourself a home, make it the seat
of your affections, respect it,
cultivate it, appreciate it. For in the spirit
of home do you find all that is good and
decent in life. Homes build communities,
communities make nations, nations of
home-loving people make civilization!”
(Sam Campbell)
I truly believe that God is honored when people have the character to secure a home in order to have a safe place to go to for refreshment and rest, to have a place to raise a godly family or entertain dear friends.
In another book titled, Home-making, which was written in 1882 by J.R. Miller, I read this quote:
“The benediction that falls upon the homes
of a country is like the gentle rain that
descends among the hills. A thousand springs are
fuller afterward, and along the banks of a
thousand streamlets flowing through the
valleys the grass is greener and the flowers pour
out richer fragrance. Homes are the springs
among the hills, whose many streamlets,
uniting, form like great rivers society, the
community, the nation, the Church. If the springs
run low the rivers waste; if they pour out bounteous
currents the rivers are full. If the springs are pure
the rivers are clear like crystal; if they are foul
the rivers are defiled. A curse upon homes sends
a poisoning blight everywhere; a blessing
brings healing and new life into every channel. Homes
are the divinely ordained fountains of life.”
The more I think about it, the more I say, “Yes, home is the place for me to work, to dream, to play, to be with my husband and my children, my family and loved ones.” God made family! Does our home reflect His love, goodness, grace, forgiveness? I want the flavor of my home to be Christ-like.
Every wise woman buildeth her house:
but the foolish plucketh it down with her hands.
Proverbs 14:1
What sort of dreams and goals do you have for your home life?
What special things do you do as a couple to keep your relationship strong?
What about the children? Do you have any traditions or fun times that are unique?
What sort of things do you like about your home? or anyone’s home?
“Homes are the divinely ordained
fountains of life” ~ J.R. Miller
Good to be Home 
first of all, those pictures from your vacation are fantastic! you are such a great photographer. and i love the table with the flowers and the doilie… but i most of all love that hand written note that seems to be so rare these days because of email etc. don’t you just LOVE hand written notes???? we all need to get back to sending those!
My husband often says “as the homes are, so goes the church”. When families break down, the brotherhood of man suffers, it seems. When families and homes are strong, it makes for better communities, churches and nations. “What sort of dreams and goals do you have for your home life?” ~ I want our home to be a haven for family and friends ~ a place where Christ is found.
I love your pics as always!! I enjoy being at home the best,it is so comforting…especially when it is clean!!!Great thoughts that you put together!
Some nice thoughts on home.
This is such a great post friend! I love home. I love walking through the door and immediately feeling comfortable and happy. It’s more than just a house, it’s family and sounds and smells and memories and traditions. And I adore that pretty yellow stationary.
You’re so sweet. I know exactly what you mean about home. I think my home has become home. It is hard for me to settle knowing that this home is temporary as we will move again in two years. I’m glad you liked my note. I liked yours as well. So, I guess the question is then…who gets to be Anne and who gets to be Diana?
Great post! I loved my little house in America, and it was so hard to say goodbye to it. We had lived there over 25 years, and it was “me” in so many ways. So many memories! Now we have a rented apartment, and God is helping me see that more than anything else, it is HIS presence that makes a dwelling “HOME” for me. I love it when people walk into our little place here and say they can feel the welcoming peace! I love looking around and seeing little touches here and there which bring delight to the soul and beauty to the eye. Of course I miss not being able to paint and change things like I would if I owned this place, and I miss my porch and my flower gardens sometimes, but as long as God lives here with us, I am OK!
I think the most important thing about a home is the people inside it and the love and warmth they “decorate” the home with.
After a Google search, I think you may be right about the trilliums ~ as kids, we heard them called May apples, but photos of those online do not look like these. Our parents and grandparents always said, “When the May apples bloom, it is time to look for mushrooms ~ be sure to look underneath them!” Who knows where they heard the name? Anyway, I am glad to learn what they truly are, but will probably end up teaching my grandchildren the same wrong name!
Bless you for your encouraging words! You are so right, that Satan will attack our homes in whatever way he can. I love the idea of a benediction on a home like a gentle rain… Lovely~ Beautiful doily, too!
great post! There is no place like home =)
GREAT POST!
thanks for sharing this lovely post on homes, blessed me.
Hello I saw you on my footprints and thought I would drop by…so glad I did, you have a great place here and I loved your post.I was thinking while reading how much I love our home and howblessed we are that God has allowed us to have it…we will be in ourhome a year on the 24th of May and it still seems so new and almostlike a dream because of its beauty and comfort. This was a great reminderof how Father God loves us and gives us that security.
HuGs,
Linda
To have a Christlike home – what a wonderful goal to strive for in His strength – once again a natural outcome of walking with Him. Dreams and goals for homelife?…better communication and a deep interest in eachother’s lives. Things you do as a couple…I am always there at the door to greet my dh when he arrives home and to sit down and listen to him talk about his day. The children…taking time to go and sit down and chat with them, lots of hugs and ruffling of the hair even at 16 and 17yrs old! Like about my home – lack of clutter at least downstairs – it makes it easy to keep tidy and it is so much more peaceful that way! ~Colleen~
Beautiful Post! I love the quote from the animal book. The Home-making book sounds lovely too. Yes, homes are nice to come back to. We always breath a sigh of relief when home. Have a great day!
your pictures are lovely! and btw…i havent been ignoring you and I will return your letter! My boys have been keeping me very busy making for a very tired mommy at night during her free time. 😉
How so very beautiful..soooo beautiful. Amen to every word here. Amen….
I think your children so attentively listening to instruction on the plane is precious. Hugs and blessings to you, ~Amelia
what a great post! I love my little house in the country. I love that every person who has ever come in this house says “your house has a peace about it…” I always want people to feel welcome. Sometimes it is a struggle to keep my house as clean as I would like it to be (well, it is almost always clean but sometimes paper clutter and laundry get in the way of that peace for me). I am striving toward that goal though to always have my house at a level that anyone is welcome anytime.
I think I have that same book!
I think in answer to your questions, I am so sentimental that I work hard to create memories and traditions that will be linked to us as a family and to our home.
Special things..communication! Both with spouse and the kids.
Goals..to love them more than I ever thought possible. To every day grow in love for them. And to sharpen them, point them constantly to the One who is love.
Oh Shanda, this post is so wonderful. It’s given me great insight into why my 19 year old daughter Brianna comes home every weekend. One of her dear friends that she’s know since she was 4 years old came to visit last Sunday..Julia was always at our house or Bri’s at hers. Julia looked around and said “Everything still looks the same, I’m so glad!” She poked around delighted to find things from her childhood. It made me realize our house is a home for others too.
I tried to work on creating traditions, especially after we adopted Isaac. But, honestly, he doesn’t understand them or even recognize them, and I was really stressing out those first few holidays. (I always loved the idea of baking Jesus a birthday cake on Christmas eve, but it was just too stessful!) I’ve had to ease up with the special traditions, and just work on the more daily happenings. Isaac knows what “church day” is and usually seems excited about that. (So does our dog – when we say “it’s church day”, he goes to his kennel and lays down!) Isaac also knows what it means to go “bye-bye to see Grammy and PaPa”, or to “look at a book”. I’ve had to keep those things simple because that’s what works for us.
One thing I love about my home is all the warm wood tones I have in my furniture. My piano and china cabinet are from my great grandmother, and I have a sweet little round table that is from my mom. I also love the colors in my livingroom – a warm dark green, a rich red (cabernet, maybe) and black wrought iron accents.
I think the important thing is to do what works for YOUR family. That keeps the stress to a minimum and really pleases those who live in your house!
-Alesha
I just started reading the same book.
Your posts are always so beautiful, and this one is one of your best. I agree with everything you said. I always miss my home when we go on trips. It’s nice to get-a-way, but it’s great to come back home. The poem is wonderful also.
Come visit my site. I posted a video of my daughter getting baptized.
Kelly
A wonderful post! I’m enjoying browsing your blog~nice to “meet” you!
:)Kat
I love being at home. I feel “centered” there. It’s where we’re “supposed” to be, right? No matter where I go or what I do, I’d probably rather be at home.
We have started having a family devotion time just before we eat. We use our hymnal from church, and we read from Luther’s Small Catechism as a family. The boys like to light the candle, lol!
Wonderful post. I have that same homemaking book. It has some neat quotes in it. I love the picture of the cards on the table. Very pretty. I always enjoy popping in to see what you are up to. BlessingsMelody
What an inspiring post! I remember thinking through what I wanted home to be for us when we were first married. I read a quote how its important that women make the home a refreshing place for our husbands to come home to but I think its important to make the home refreshing for ourselves as well. So often I have visited other people’s homes where it is dark and grungy sometimes because they smoke in the house and other times just because of a negative atmosphere or its really dirty (not as in things all over but dirty like it hasn’t been cleaned in years) and theres a dampness to it. It really does depress your spirits to spend time inside a house like that! I purposed in my heart o make my place as pleasant as I could. I think the biggest thing I think/feel when I pull into my driveway or walk in the door is … appreciation. I didn’t grow up in clean, pleasant, beautiful places and its sooooo nice to come home and see sunshine pouring in my windows, colors dancing off the walls, and knowing that though my house is far from being perfectly clean…its is relatively clean enough to feel comfortable. Sometimes I make myself keep daniel’s slippers out and the afghan bunched on the loveseat so I can remember how good it is to have a house that is lived in. I know that someday I may be wishing he were around to leave out his slippers and afghan bunched on the loveseat.
Back to your questions… I also feel refreshed at home and more in love with God especially when I look out my windows and see God’s greatness in the mountains and trees. I feel peace when I hear the birds singing and I feel excited when I sit on my porch and observe the wildlife (usually a flock of turkeys).
What I would like for my house to be to others – is open and comfortable but mostly refreshing. I hope that It is interesting to look at but not a place where you can’t kick back your chair and put your feet up on the coffee table. I hope that it will not be the place where mother’s have to run around chasing their kids, hoping they dont destroy everything. I hope its a place that were I not here and a stranger was to guess at what kind of people we are merely based on our house, they would walk away knowing that God is in our home and in our hearts.