Home

 

Home is a place where one resides. A house.  An apartment.  A studio. A place where a family lives in a dwelling.  A habitat. A customary environment.  A place of origin.  A homestead.  A place where your heart dwells.

Where is home for you?  Is it a place where you can always go and know you are welcomed?  It is a place where comfort resides?  Love?  Joy?  Some of us were lucky enough to have such a place of warm and wholeness. 

Others, however, did not or does not have that experience.  And, if not, is it a place that you are still searching for?  I hope so.  Read on……..there is a surprise waiting for you!

Home for me is in Ohio where I grew up and will always have very fond memories of living on Acton Rd. where I spent most of my childhood.  Playing “Kick the Can” games each summer night in our neighborhood and having a blast with friends will always live on in my memory.  Catching fireflies, running, laughing……….home!

Canton, Ohio has fond memories too………it is where our brother was born.  And, mom made us dress up in our Sunday clothes and sit on a certain chair in our living room to hold him when he got home from the hospital.   What an amazing memory that is for me!  The awe, the wonder and the joy of a new baby brother!!!  He was so loved and still is!!!  And, the memory of rolling down a grassy noll in the front of that house which when I was 3 years old I thought was a mountain!  When I was older and visited our family home, the hill was about 1 foot high!  Ha! My perspective was certainly different when I was 3 years old!

Then, we moved to Akron, Ohio where many memories reside in my heart!  My baby brother learning to “fly” by falling out of a neighbor’s tree saying: “Look, I can fly!” And, boom!  Down he fell to the ground where I thought he was dead!  Running across the street to get my mom declaring: “He’s dead, he’s dead!” was a very scary moment for a 6 year old!  Luckily, Scott had just knocked the wind out of himself and to this day, is still an excellent pilot!!!  And, Akron is where we got to go to NCR

Columbus, Ohio was where I went to Grade school, Jr High School, High School and College at Ohio State University. I remember walking to school in 3^rd grade and by the time I got home, my mom knew exactly what had happened to me along the way!  Interesting how other mothers informed my mom of my adventures!  Ha!  And, I remember riding the bus or my bicycle to and from classes, working at the Overbrook Pharmacy all during high school and college, and teaching swimming lessons at Olympic Pool, etc, etc.  Home.

Home is also here in KC where I raised my son.  I have lived in the house I raised him in for now 21 years.  It is a place of refuge and comfort.  It has been our anchor.  And, a place of joy!  I hope one day, my son will buy this house and raise his family here. 

Home.  It is definitely where the heart is.  No matter how old I get, my home will always be in these places and with the family God blessed me with.

And finally, there is a Heavenly home that is described in John 14:1-3 where Jesus says:

“Do not let your hearts be afraid.  You believe in Me, believe also in God.  In My Father’s house there are many dwelling places (homes).  If it were not so, I would have told you; for I am going away to prepare a place for you.  And when I go and make ready a place for you, I will come back again and will take you to Myself, that where I am you may be also.”

Doesn’t that sound amazing? The Lord has promised to take those who believe in Him and His forgiving grace to be with Him AFTER this life!  We will always have a home in Him.  But, in the meantime, He still dwells within believers through His Holy Spirit.  That is truly amazing……He makes His home in our hearts……if we believe….if we trust….if we ask for His forgiveness to cleanse from all our mistakes, all our flaws, and all of our past.  He comes to dwell in us.

Home. Have you made your home in His love?  It’s a place of refuge, of comfort, of welcome, of rest, of refreshment.  Every day.  This is the surprise each of us can have, if we choose.

Home.  What memories are triggered for you?  I hope you have many fond memories of family, of faith, of love and of JOY!  And, I hope you will choose to have your home in Christ and ask Him into your heart!!!

Home.  Always.  Forever.