Skip to main content

Home

             By wisdom a house is built, and through understanding it is established; through knowledge its rooms are filled with rare and beautiful treasures. (Psalm 24:3-4

Sometimes, I find myself wondering about what makes a place a home. There are probably hundreds of answers. This may be just another of the mental calisthenics with which I torture myself, but calisthenics can produce health and strength if used properly. What do you think makes a house a home? Please put an answer in the comments. It doesn’t have to be long or formal.

Let’s state the obvious. God and love are the primary ingredients of a home. Today’s passage suggests that wisdom, knowledge, and understanding are also keys to making a home. Those things are all needed for the engineering, design, and construction of the building but one can hire the best in the business and not end up with a home. I don’t believe technical expertise was all that was meant by wisdom, knowledge, and understanding. They’re also involved in filling a home with rare and beautiful treasures, and I’ll come back to those in a moment.

As I consider the idea, a home is a place of safety, where you can be yourself. But we shouldn’t think of “being ourselves” as self-indulgence. We should aim for home to be where we can aspire to be our best selves, while we can accept and overcome our less-than-best selves. It is a place where we can find comfort but not be allowed to remain in our comfort zones for too long. It is a refuge, but not a place to which to escape. It is a haven but also a base of operations. I have no idea what any of that looks like for you. For some, a home might be a place to which you bring others. For others, the visitors might be few.

Home is where our treasures are stored. This may be the aspect of “home” that will help me in my quest. Of course, when I first read the passage, I thought about the things that a thief might want to steal, like paintings, electronics, the silver, money, etc. I don’t have a lot of thief-temptation. Relationships also come to mind. There are people for whom “treasure” refers to people who come and go from the place. I’m not opposed to people - I’m just not good at them. On the other hand, I am learning to garden and trying to build a treasure trove of plants. I am reading some very good books. Some I own, but even without owning them, reading them makes them a part of my treasure. Learning also produces treasures along the same line. Food for thought for any over-thinkers out there.

 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Pure...

            The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. (I Timothy 1:5)   I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. (Revelation 3:15-16) I’m probably cheating - or mishandling the Bible, but earlier I was thinking about love being pure and purifying. And hatred being pure and purifying. And anger…joy…patience… fear… jealousy… courage…lust… and other strongly felt feelings, attitudes, and beliefs. Today’s verse brings purity and love together, so it’s the verse of the day, but it’s not really the focus. That means my motive for sharing it with you probably isn’t pure. As you read through my list, you   probably thought, “Yeah” about some, and “What’s she on?” about others. But consider how much hatred, anger, fear, jealousy, and lust can crowd out everything else. This is like
Post a Comment
Read more

The Right Road

          Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,” even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you. (Psalm 139:7-12)                  For years before GPSes existed, I told people I wanted something in my car that would tell me, “Turn left in half a mile…turn left in a quarter mile…turn left in 500 feet… turn left in 100 feet…turn left now …You missed the turn, Dummy!” The problem isn’t necessarily that I get lost so much as I’m afraid I’ll get lost. I don’t want to have to spend my whole trip stressing over the next turn. I have the same problem with my spiritual journey.   
Post a Comment
Read more

Not Sharing

            Do not be hasty in the laying on of hands, and do not share in the sins of others. Keep yourself pure . (I Timothy 5:22) Today’s is a hard one. The part about not being hasty in the laying on of hands isn’t so much the problem unless your love language is Touch. We aren’t pastors. We don’t tend to be involved in commissioning anyone. What we don’t tend to think of when we hear “laying on of hands” is that it involves relationship and approval. Our sending them away as our representatives may not seem real to us, but just think about what being seen with the wrong folks can do to a reputation. I’ve heard that Billy Graham would not be in a room alone with a woman. Others follow the same policy, or at least make sure the door is open so that anyone who wants to can see that nothing’s going on. But the hard part is not sharing in the sins of others. What does it mean? It’s comparatively easy to say that being pure means not having sex with someone who is not our spouse.
Post a Comment
Read more