Home

This morning as I turn to the Lord for wisdom in my day during my quiet time, I am contemplating the concept of "home." Home is on the brain for many reasons. One big one is because we are building our new home 200 feet from our back door. We have thought and prayed about this decision for years. We have thought and prayed about every square inch of it because we want to be wise with the resources that God has given us. We carefully designed our home and are carefully making each decision concerning it. Our current house right now is a source of frustration for me. It is an 85 year old farmhouse that has received only the most minimal of care over the past few decades. It has been hindering our family life in many ways. I have to admit that I am no domestic goddess. :) Housework is a struggle for me and I tend to be a packrat, but I have really been working diligently in these areas. These things are difficult in a house that is too small for our needs and is worn and broken down. Another reason "home" is on the brain is that I have really been thinking about my role as manager of my home. I have allowed our family's routines to slack due to my own busy-ness and brain overload. It is definitely time for a renewal in this area! The children and I had a discussion about this and are all going to work on this.

Anyway, I decided to do an informal bible study on the word "home." I am using www.biblegateway.com to do a search on the word. It is very interesting to read through all the verses in the bible using the word home. You get a overview of its biblical meaning. What I am seeing is that it is a place of happiness (Deuteronomy 24:5, a place to return to (as seen in a multitude of verses), a place to teach (Deuteronomy 6:7), represents family and roots (Judges 21:24), where you raise your children ( Samuel 1:23), place of peace (1 Samuel 25:35), where to get nourished (1 Kings 17:12), a place to flee to for safety (2 Kings 14:12). Our homes are a base camp - a place to be refreshed and renewed for God's work. Sometimes our home are the place where we do God's work. I think this is especially true for those of us who are wives and mothers.

Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be
slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. Then they can
train the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be
self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be
kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word
of God. (Titus 2:3-5).

Of course many are called to leave our homes to serve God.

Peter said to him, "We have left everything to follow
you!" "I tell you the truth," Jesus replied, "no one
who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or
children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred
times as much in this present age (homes, brothers, sisters, mothers,
children and fields—and with them, persecutions) and in the age to come,
eternal life." (Mark 10:28-30)

Proverbs 3:33 says,

"The LORD's curse is on the house of the wicked, but he
blesses the home of the righteous."

It seems from this it appears that the ingredient that makes a house into a home is righteousness. Righteousness is being right with God. It is not our own goodness or merit, but having an honest relationship with Jesus Christ - accepting Him as our saving grace. HE alone makes us right with God.

Well, my little natives are getting restless and I am seeing that my "quiet" time is ending. I suppose I will just chew on these thoughts s I go though my day.