The Home I've come to love

During the 8+ years we’ve been married, we’ve lived in seven different cities, purchased two homes, and rented various apartments. Each place has been unique in style, age, and function. All of them have been home.

This place that we’ve been in for the past four months in Florida didn’t feel like home when we first moved in. We were without belongings for almost two weeks which stretched us, contributed to my closing the blinds and refusing to answer the doors, and we were frustrated living here for about two months. The carpet and fixtures are dingy. The rooms are smaller than we’re used to. We don’t have a beautiful yard like our home in Georgia.

But something changed. We began to feel at home here, not because the interior became more beautiful, but because our hearts accepted that this was the place God had for us right now. Our home, this town, this season of life. These months have been a gift, and our home has been a part of that gift.

Things are not centered on the walls. My children decorate their room in ways that I dislike, and they love it and get much delight out of creating their own space. Mason’s bed is on the floor and doesn’t look how I would want, but at least he’s not falling out of it every night. Our front porch has a random assortment of items on it, including a dead mum and fishing poles. But these things are evidence to me of a fun hobby to enjoy, and not being overly worried about appearance (something I needed to work on). The living room is missing two lamps because my son finally broke them after pulling them onto the floor multiple times. You will see items where they ‘don’t belong’, books placed haphazardly on bookshelves, and dead branches, pine cones, and seashells on the piano. The upstairs bathroom door stays off of the hinges at all times (unless we have company like we do right now) because it’s almost impossible to bathe my children with the door on. And you’ll notice a pillow behind the headboard in our master bedroom. (When your bedroom backs up to your neighbor’s bedroom, you have thin walls, and your bed squeaks….well, you get the reason for the pillow…)

I miss my granite counters, deep bathtub, large windows, window treatments, and extra square footage. I look forward to the day when I have space to store papers and use my seasonal decor. I would love to have neatly made beds and clear surfaces at the end of every day. I like pretty things and beautifully decorated spaces. Some day I’d like to have those things again.

But do you know what I’ve come to learn? Those things are not necessary for me to feel at home.

Home is created when I cultivate an attitude of gratefulness and joy in my heart. When I accept God’s plan, regardless of how different it is from my own. I can choose to be thankful for what He has given me because I don’t deserve any of it. I can embrace the different places and circumstances He gives me because I trust that His purposes are good and best and He is at work in my life.

Today, I want to invite you into our home, the home I’ve come to love.

You won’t find these pictures on Pinterest or in a magazine, but this is our life right now, and it is good.