Why do I keep changing our house? I want it to be beautiful, a reflection of my style and functional for our family... but at what point do I stop? Will I ever stop? Probably not. We all know those people that just change + change + renovate ... then move and start over again.
I think there are two parts to this.
1. The genuine want to create a warm, restful, and comfortable home.
2. The longing for our true home.
Lets start with
PART 1: The genuine want to create a warm, restful, and comfortable home.
I immediately think of Sally Clarkson's, A Life Giving Home: Creating a place of belonging and becoming. Just flipping through it I know I need to read it again. While she does talk about creating with the "stuff" of a space: cozy chairs and blankets, holiday decor, fresh flowers, pictures on the walls, meaningful items from trips abroad; these are all second to rhythms, routines, and rituals. Connecting with the Lord, with each other, creating familiar routines to come back to, (at least in our minds) in what we do in our homes because of the meaningful "why" of it all. Sharing meals and inviting the community in is a huge theme in this book. Also a good read on that note is Bread and Wine by Shauna Neiquist.
I think all of us have experienced the vacation that was amazing but the longing to be back in our bed, with our things, doing things our way. We want our home to be a place where we feel comfort and rest, a place where our people feel comfort and rest, and for me, a place to offer others a place of comfort and rest. There's nothing wrong with any of this.
PART 2: The longing for our TRUE home.
Hebrews 11:16
But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.
Hebrews 13:14
For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come.
2 Corinthians 4:18
As we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.
2 Corinthians 5:7
For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
Philliapians 3:20
But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ
Hebrews 11:10
For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God.
I think whether we acknowledge Christ as Lord or not, He has still created us, and created us to long for Him, and to long for heaven. Our homes are never going to feel "just right" because the world is not "just right." We can renovate and redecorate till our fingers and bank accounts bleed but our hearts will never be truly content with our "attempts" of home. I am not surprised our eternal home is "designed and built by God" (Hebrews 11:10) Can you imagine having to make those color and material choices?! haha.
This is the piece where Nora's question gets me. "Why do you keep changing our house?" I have the good reasons but I have to question all my reasons. Am I reaching for something unattainable? Yes. I will never replace the longing in my heart with the look/feel of my house, but I still innately try and then post it on instagram like its an accomplishment. But if you come to my house and feel comfortable, cared for and encouraged then maybe we really did catch a little glimpse of heaven. Good read on this: The Great Divorce by CS Lewis
Like everything else in life its a balance. Thank you to our children who see things all too clearly.
" Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where Nature may heal and cheer and give strength to the body and soul alike." -John Muir
"We shape our dwellings, and afterwards our dwellings shape us." -Winston Churchill