"Home, James". You just told your chauffeur to deliver you to yours, post haste. "Home". A proper noun used to identify the name of that which is yours. "Home" as in we just bought a home, or that's the home place. "Toto, we're not in Kansas any more".
Where is yours? The old saying that "home is where your heart is" is oh so true. You may not like the house or trailer or apartment that you live in, but if it is providing 4 safe walls around the ones that you love, warmth, comfort, protection from the elements, then love the structure or not, it's home.
Home is what we make it. It can be just a place, or it can be a place that is so inviting that everyone has a comfort level there and loves to visit. Homes are made a little sweeter with the smell of fresh baked cookies and bread in the oven, or pristine flower beds full of color and butterflies. Home can also be chipped paint, broken handrails and a dripping roof. It's condition doesn't change what it is.
Sometimes, it can be your home town, where you grew up, where you used to know everyone, where you can close your eyes and see yourself riding your bike or roller skating with your best friends from school. But, you're grown up now, and that "home" is part of your memories, but in a way, it will always be home.
I feel at home in my kitchen, or when I'm arranging flowers. My daughter feels at home with a brush in her hand and a blank canvas in front of her, whether it's 3' square or a whole wall on a stage. My son feels at home with that imagination of his as he portrays yet another character for his enjoyment and ours too, or playing a game or on the computer. My husband feels at home with a stack of wood, a hammer and some nails, and yes, the remote control for the tv. I could list dozens and dozens of "home" scenarios from friends and family. What are some of yours?
Home, as so many think of it, is a structure. But it is so much more than that. Home is your heart. Home is the gift(s) that are within you that God put there for you to share. Home is closing your eyes and knowing that you are in that one place with the One that is there for you all of the time. He never leaves, even when we do.
Home is what is inside of you and what you choose to do with it! It's memories, good and bad. It's faith. It's love. It's yesterdays. It's tomorrows. It's promises. It's a rainbow and a dove. The structure may change, but Home, never does. It stays with you from first breath to last.
I'm home right now and feeling pretty comfortable. There's a big smile on my face and just a wonderful feeling of peacefulness around me. How about you? Is it time to close your eyes, strap on those ruby slippers and tell yourself "there's no place like home, there's no place like home, there's no place like home". In an instant, you'll be there. So smile, be thankful for that two-legged "mobile home" that carries you around 24/7. Tell the One that designed it for you "thanks" as well. We are His home "fix-it" projects every moment of every day.
Have a wonderfully blessed day in your "Home",
Kaye