Make Your Home Your Retreat

 

“With wisdom a house is built.  With understanding it is established.  With knowledge its rooms are filled with every kind of riches, both precious and pleasant.”        Proverbs 31:27

        

It is not the walls, or the furniture, or the size of the rooms that make a house a home.  It’s the love you bring to everything you do inside.  Whether it’s playing monopoly with the kids.  Pulling up weeds in the back yard.  Lovingly, albeit at times grudgingly, doing your tenth load of laundry.  Or placing a meal on the table made with your hands and from your heart.   A home should put you at peace.  That means indulging all your senses so that home not only feels like home, but smells like home and looks like  home too.

            If you truly want to make your home a sanctuary, an escape from the pressures of worldly forces, then take some time to bring a few spiritual touches to your fortress.  Invite God into your house.  Make a permanent space for Him.  Let Him fill every nook and cranny of your home.

            While you’re at it, don’t forget about your ancestors.  Make room for them too by including their memories and traditions.  Say grace before you eat the way your Daddy used to say it.  Set a place at the table with Grandma’s china or Auntie’s silver.  Place Grandpa’s pipe on the mantle. 

            Finally, let peace and joy settle into every room.  Once you’ve prayed to the Lord that He give you a home, not just a house, one way to make sure you literally feel it as a home is to fill it with things scripture refers to as both precious and pleasant.

            

Let’s start with the Living Areas:  We’ve heard all our lives that cleanliness is next to Godliness, but sometimes life get’s so hectic, things start to pile up, the kid’s make a mess, and before we know it our space has gotten out of control.  Take some time to put your things in order.  Get rid of some of the clutter.  Your attitude at home will be so much better when your house is orderly.  We’re not talking about passing the white glove test - but just having everything in it’s place with some semblance of neatness will clear your space and your head.

            Bringing some of nature inside is one way of making a home more spiritual. Flowers and plants can really liven up a home.  Some, such as Fern, Philadendrom and Spider are easy to grow and require little maintenance.  And, don’t wait for someone else to bring you flowers, you might be waiting a long time, so treat yourself every once in a while to a single rose or an arrangement of white lilies.  You deserve them.  After all, if you don’t treat yourself special, who will?

            Pictures of our relatives and ancestors keep us connected to our family tree.  Photo albums filled with snapshots of friends and family are treaures which induce lasting memories.  Make a scrapbook of letters from loved ones, or try framing a piece of jewelry that once belonged to a family member.

           We should have books that uplift us spiritually, especially in our bedrooms. We read them upon waking or before retiring for bed.  And, there is one more thing.  Just like a hotel room, always have a Bible.  You never know when you’ll need to go to The Word.  Some of us read it every day without fail, others of us find we only really open it when we’re in crisis.  No matter what, God wants us all to rely on His promises.  Home should, after all be the place we come to for solace and comfort.  The Bible will always give you both.

from This Far by Faith: How to Put God First in Everyday Living