House or Home?

House or Home?

We just finished moving into our new apartment.  I know we’re only here for 6 weeks so I’ve been worried {and contemplating} how we can make this old apartment feel like a true home during our sojourn. 

So I’ve been thinking.  And pondering.  A lot.  Last night as I lay in my bed I thought for probably the millionth time upon the familiar adage that you bring your home with you wherever you go, wherever you live.  I know {I told myself}. And then it clicked.  After years of believing this phrase, it finally made sense.

It’s kind of difficult to explain but I’ll try my best. 

I guess I’ll begin with what home is not.  Home is not a physical place.  It’s not a building with four walls and a roof.  It’s not the edifice we buy or rent or live in.  This is a house…a flat…an apartment…an abode…a dwelling place.  But not a home.

Home is so much more.

Home is a feeling.  Home exists in your heart when you and your very dearest loved ones are gathered around you.  You do indeed bring this all-encompassing feeling of home with you to every house because home is the ambience, the aura, the sense of atmosphere that is generated by the love that knits your family together and binds them in unbreakable bonds.  It’s you.  Home is the feeling that exists within your family—it’s the very atmosphere that is generated by your unique and individual family.

Therefore, when you and your family move to a new home, your home {your loving, peaceful, familial aura} descends upon the physical edifice and it becomes yours.

And then, if we are living worthy of the Holy Spirit, He will also descend upon our house and sanctify and purify it.  This is the moment when the edifice {no matter how small, drab, old, or worn} becomes beautiful.