Home – The place where one lives permanently, especially as a member of a family or household; affect place of residence, representing the center of family life .
(Oxford Dictionary)
It is said that home is where the heart is, but what is home? The philosopher, Kahlil Gibran, said, “Let your home be your mast and not your anchor.” He captured the true purpose of home, because home is not a place but a guiding force. In baseball the player begins at home and challenge the of running the bases is over, he returns home and is safe. That is where all of our lives begin. They begin with a source, a home, a place, an attitude that is of God’s making. We wander to many places in our lives but we, like the baseball player, are always searching and seeking to return home.
Home is where are comfortable and welcomed. Our home is where we find love and security. Home is a place that we can be ourselves. Home offers us a time when we can be weak and know that others will give us support and safety. Our homes are the foundations of our lives. The scripture says, “Behold, I lay in Zion a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense, And he who believes in Him will not be disappointed.” Just as Jesus is the cornerstone of our spiritual lives, so our home is the cornerstone of our well being as we journey through life. Without a home we are rudderless and meandering from place to place.
God built into us a natural instinct to set a course to return home when we are lost and lonely. I read recently of the story of Bobby the Wonder Dog who found his way home in a rather miraculous way. Bobbie the Wonder Dog was a dog who covered 2,551 miles on his own to return home to Silverton, Oregon, after he was lost while his owners were visiting family in Wolcott, Indiana. Bobby set his course toward home and succeeded, and so can you.
Are you feeling lonely or lost? Has the life you have found been less than what it should be? If so, it is time to go home. Some people do not have a place that they can really call home, but God gives us a way to make one. Joshua , a humble disciple of Yahweh, made a simple decision when he said, “Choose you this day whom ye will serve –but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” That is the way we can make a home. A home is a place where the principles of God are the cornerstone of life. A home does not have to be a place of origin, but rather it is a place of being.
The reason many people never find a home is because they never build one. They perhaps have run away from the one they once had and are looking to build one that is absent of the cornerstone. A home will never be made in a selfish and conceded way but must be a place of sharing and love.
God wants us all to have a home and he is ready to help us build it.
Home is the place where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in.
― Robert Frost
The ache for home lives in all of us. The safe place where we can go as we are and not be questioned.
― Maya Angelou
How often have I lain beneath rain on a strange roof, thinking of home.
― William C. Faulkner
Home is the nicest word there is.
― Laura Ingalls Wilder
Home is where somebody notices when you are no longer there.
― Aleksandar Hemon, The Lazarus Project
If Light Is In Your Heart
You Will Find Your Way Home.
― Rumi
Man wanted a home, a place for warmth, or comfort, first of physical warmth, then the warmth of the affections.
― Henry David Thoreau
You haven’t really been anywhere until you’ve got back home.”
― Terry Pratchett
The strength of a nation derives from the integrity of the home.
― Confucius
Nothing can bring a real sense of security into the home except true love.
― Billy Graham
One of the oldest human needs is having someone to wonder where you are when you don’t come home at night.
― Margaret Mead
For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God.
~~~Hebrews 3:4
My people will abide in a peaceful habitation,
in secure dwellings, and in quiet resting-places.
~~~Isaiah 32:18
Now if you are unwilling to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served in the region beyond the River or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.’
~~~Joshua 24:15
He knew what they were thinking and said to them, ‘Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and no city or house divided against itself will stand.
~~~Matthew 12:25
The Lord’s curse is on the house of the wicked,
but he blesses the abode of the righteous.
~~~Proverbs 3:33
Now therefore may it please you to bless the house of your servant, so that it may continue for ever before you; for you, O Lord God, have spoken, and with your blessing shall the house of your servant be blessed for ever.’
~~~2Samuel 7:29
Unless the Lord builds the house,
those who build it labour in vain.
Unless the Lord guards the city,
the guard keeps watch in vain.
~~~Psalm 127:1
You who live in the shelter of the Most High,
who abide in the shadow of the Almighty,
will say to the Lord, ‘My refuge and my fortress;
my God, in whom I trust.’
~~~Psalm 91: 1-2
By wisdom a house is built,
and by understanding it is established;
by knowledge the rooms are filled
with all precious and pleasant riches.
~~~Proverbs 24:3-4
Lord, I know that you have given me this house. May you now bestow upon me the grace to make it a home – home where there is rest and safety, a home where there is love and security, a home that offers hospitality to those in need and comfort to the troubled. Make this house into that home.
Amen
A Pastor's Thoughts 