Home is Where Your Story Begins...

This morning's devotion took me back to memories of the homes I lived in while growing up.  There were many.  In fact, it wasn't until 9th grade that my family settled down and stayed put (for a while.)  Even "family" was an ever-changing dynamic.


The devotion I read talked about a young man who had gone back to the home where he grew up, and was welcomed in to take a look around.  It made me think of Miranda Lambert's song, The House that Built Me.  I don't have one of those.  There are, though, homes that I remember... houses that figured prominently in the life of the woman that I would become.  Some I would like to visit today, and some I wouldn't... Or, maybe would enter with extreme caution.

Just a couple of homes came to mind immediately... Cragin Park Drive, Muchacha Avenue, 189th Place.  (Good, bad and indifferent, not necessarily in that order.)

Digging deeper, there was an apartment (I think it was) in northern California... I remember the staircase... creeping down to watch my parents as they played games with some friends.  It was decorated with little satin Christmas characters and garland at Christmastime.  There was the house where kittens were born behind the sofa.  My sisters and I took the tiny little things in to show Mom, and she screamed 'cause she thought they were mice.  Not long there, either.  (We must have moved annually.)  There was a house with a willow tree, a little apartment in Henderson.  And, then, Cragin Park Drive.  I'd go into that house.

Places changed frequently, again, and we settled in Green Valley.  From ninth grade, through high school graduation, we stayed in one spot.  That was cool.  I liked living there.  Lots of good things, good times, friendships.  But I don't need to go into that house.  Maybe I was old enough to assimilate and gain perspective, after moving so much.  I remember it clearly.

You know what I remember most?  I remember windows.  Looking out my bedroom window, I would sort of daydream.  Imagining that someone was sitting outside, waiting to talk with me, or to take me away.  It was always a hero... not a threat.  In the two most significant homes I lived in, I remember the curtains my mom made.  (Wow.  I've never put that fact together with my memories of the Windows.  That's pretty cool... and powerful!  Thank you, Mom.)  Windows framed by eyelet curtains, reminding me that there was something out there.

Two homes I'd LOVE to go into - and I'm not quite sure why I haven't taken the opportunity to do it, yet - are my Grandparents' homes, from my childhood.  On both sides of my family tree, my grandparents had homes where I felt safe.  Those would be homes that I would liken to "a trusted ally," as the devotional writer puts it.  CPD was a place that was a "silent witness," but a significant part of my heart remains in each of the homes where I was limitlessly loved.  189th Place and East Alder.  Rainy days, mud, blueberries, bikes on the side of the house.  A playhouse, built by Grandpa, in the back... with wooden bunk beds that converted into a couch.  And... big burlap bags of walnuts in my Grandma's basement.  Coming up the basement stairs to the smell of toast, and tasting orange marmalade... and brown sugar soaked into a grapefruit half.  I loved playing in the tall grass out in the field.  It was taller than me!

With all those memories,  my heart has learned one important, overriding truth.  God Almighty, Maker of Heaven and Earth, longs to make our hearts His home.  He longs to dwell (which is what you do in a home) among us, with us, in us!  That doesn't happen on a whim.  It isn't something to take lightly.  It's a truth that I discovered at 23 years old.  Something that became a reality, and changed my life.  I am so grateful for the day that He stepped in, and built a home for me to live securely in, regardless of where I would sleep at night.  Of where I would declare my residency.  Of where my children lived and loved and played.

These are the verses shared in the devotional I read this morning...

Ezekiel 37:26-27, “I will make a covenant of peace with them; it will be an everlasting covenant. I will establish them and increase their numbers, and I will put my sanctuary among them forever. My dwelling place will be with them; I will be their God, and they will be my people.” (NIV)



1Corinthians 3:16, “Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst?” (NIV)


To me, that is amazing.  Reassuring.  Thank You, Lord, that You're not just some Higher Power.  You're real and true and personal.  You're my God.  And this is my temporary home.  I love You.