Life Lesson #119 ~ Home.

"Oh how she loved to be home." ~ Anonymous

Home, there is no other place like it is there? Home is a place we feel a connection, a special attachment to and find a feeling of closeness and belonging as we come through the door. Home is where we let our hair down, toss our shoes off and kick our feet up. So what thoughts comes to your mind when you think of home?  For me home is the place my heart dwells, a place of comfort, warmth, refuge and retreat. Maybe you live in a house, an apartment or even something more exotic like a bungalow. The thing about home, is it doesn't matter what kind of dwelling we reside in. What matters is the ones we share it with. Home for me has always been a place I've felt safe, loved and welcome in. Growing up the daughter of a soldier we moved a lot. Some of our houses were small while others were quite large but they were always home. As beautifully said by Mother Teresa, "Love begins by taking care of the closest ones -the ones at HOME."  My family, they are my home. The ones I love with all my heart, the ones I am the closest to and the ones I give my all to each and every day.

When I think of home I think of chasing babies around just out the tub, a towl dragging behind or being snuggled up on the couch watching Roly Poly Olie and Bear in the Big Blue House. I think of tea parties with my daddy or bedtime stories with my mama. I think of Jesus, sweet tea and I think of mornings waking up next to the love of my life.  If our walls could talk I imagine they'd have a lot to say. They'd surely tell of giggle fits, forts and tickle fights, Saturday morning pancakes, Sunday afternoon naps, smiles, tears and love divided endlessly without ever being lessened. I know these walls would speak of moments of grief, heartache and discontent as well as times of happiness, contentment and pure joy. Our home, is not a place made solely of physical walls but a hearth of dreams and unconditional love. There's an old Amish saying I love. It's a truth and it goes like this, "A house is made of walls and beams; a home is made of love and dreams." 

Our family, we may be small, but we're strong. Yes, our little family is tiny, it's true. And yes, I may have been born the only child and my children, the only grandsons of a courageous old soldier and his beautiful bride of 48 years. But you see I've learned the size of our family tree isn't a reflection of less but instead it reflects the depth of our roots. I love my family, and I love the home, the hearth, and the heart we've built together. "I know every family has its problems. But I admire those that stick together." And we have absolutely done that. Abandoning one another because things were tough, has never been an option. We've weathered storms meant to destroy us, together. We've stuck together through the good and the bad times. We've learned to rebuild our walls, lay a stronger foundation and mend our fences after the storms pass. Remember I mentioned Jesus and sweet tea? Well here in the South that's spot on. Sweet tea is a must, God's grace is sufficient and Jesus, He's our everything. I can tell you, Jesus Christ, He's the center of our home, the Living Water running through our roots and the Rock for which our foundation is built upon. I think our messy little family is much like Jeremiah 17:8, "He is like a tree growing near a stream and sending out roots to the water. It is not afraid when hot weather comes, because its leaves stay green; it has no worries when there is no rain; it keeps on bearing fruit." And why, because our roots our planted deep. By God's grace, we don't break, we bend.

Life Lesson #119 ~ Home, is where we all love to be. Home is made of walls, beams, love, dreams and heart. Home can go anywhere with us. Home provides us roots, connections to our past, present and our future.The unconditional love we share, is homegrown, precious and eternal, passed from one generation to the next.

"HOME is where your story begins." ~ Anonymous

~Christina