Lent Day 33: Home

My husband and I are in the market for a new place to live. We have only owned one home and we lost it when the restaurants my husband was a partner in closed. It was a hard loss. We rented the house we’re in now because both our daughters and all our grandchildren were living with us. They’re back out on their own and we’re in this very huge, and expensive house.

So, we found a really good realtor. She has us figured out. Very quickly, she learned what we like and want. Yesterday she took us to seven houses. I fell in love with one house and liked its location. I fell in love with one location and kinda liked the house. While we’re still struggling a bit with some things with the “loved” house, we sent her an email and told her that we think it’s the one.

Since we pulled out of the driveway, I’ve been thinking of colors for the rooms and where I’ll put furniture. Nelson has been doing research on propane. We’ve been imagining ourselves living in our new home. Is it a place where we can see ourselves growing old? The price is right, but how’s the fit?

When we bought our first house, we bought it mostly because it was available with land contract and it was only a block away from where we were living and two blocks from where I was working. We learned to live with the rest of it. It was a house, but never really became a home. We came and went so much from that place that it was more like a stopover than a dwelling place. This became very clear to me when I lost my jobs and was “stuck” being there for months before we eventually moved.

I remember a devotion I read by John Henry Jowett many, many years ago where he spoke of our need to find our dwelling place, where we could be “at home.” He referenced 2 Corinthians 5 and compared birds that just flit in and out with those that nest and dwell. I just did a quick search of “dwelling place.” Many references are made to God’s dwelling place, but I really like this image that Isaiah paints: 18 My people will live in peaceful dwelling places, in secure homes, in undisturbed places of rest (Isaiah 38:18, NIV).

I’m not sure if it’s because I’m older, and getting more so every day, but I want to find a place where I feel like I land and rest. This house we’re considering has a “lake” out the back yard and Amish farms across the road in the front. I don’t know if it gets more peaceful than that—and I can still drive to work. The important thing, though, is not the address. The house could be in the middle of nowhere and not be a place of undisturbed rest. If this house is to truly be a dwelling place, I will have to be at rest in my heart and spirit. I will need to be at peace with my creator. So I’m really praying that if this is where he wants us that he will lead us beside the still waters and make us lie down there.