Things I Love: Home

          Home.  Just the say the word and most people get some kind of image.  Good or bad, comforting or anxiety-ridden.

          Me?  I love home.  But I don't necessarily define "home" the way most people do.  I moved a whole lot as a child, and the longest I ever lived in one place growing up was 6 years.  There was a time when we moved about once every year to year and a half.  For me, home isn't a place, really.  Or at least not one individual place.  For me, it's where I find those l love the most -- my husband and children.

          My husband and I are from the South.  And we started our marriage in SC.  And I loved it there.  I still do.  I miss things about SC, about the small town where we spent the first bit of our marriage.  The people there, the church we attended and served in, the friends we made, our neighborhood.

          Now, we live in the Southwest.  And I love NM.  I love the weather.  (Who can complain about brilliant blue skies approximately 360 days each year?  I love our church, the people, our neighborhood, and our small town.

          People here always ask if we miss the South, if we'd like to move back.  The answer is yes. When we go back to see family, people there ask us if we like NM, if we like living here.  And the answer is yes.  See, for me, "home" is not a house, but the family IN the house.  It's not about where we do life, but with whom we do life.

          So, how do I love people?  I make a home wherever I find myself.  I don't spend my time looking back, wishing for somewhere I don't live any more.  I miss the people, and feel the sorrow of friendships that aren't the same as they once were.  But I make new friendships. 

 

          I don't discourage my husband by whining about before, and what I miss.  I focus on what we have, and the good I find where I am.  If there are things to be fixed, I look to fix them, or ask him to help me fix them.  I look forward to the future.  Not a future that is really the past, but a future where we are now, or wherever the Lord will take us next.

 

          I encourage my children to be kind and friendly wherever they are, be it in the check-out line of the grocery store, or with the neighbor child. 

 

          The length of the contact should not change how we treat people.  Everyone deserves kindness.  And that is like bringing a little bit of home with you wherever you go.  Graciousness isn't that hard to extend to a total stranger.  And you never know when you're the only kind person they'll deal with all day.  Or when your kindness to a stranger will turn into something much larger, for you or for them.

          Home -- it should be a place of safety and kindness, grace extended and humbly received.  That's why I love home.  Because, truly, you can take home anywhere you go.  And give a bit of home to those around you.