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             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.

 

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