{HOME}

I have spent the last few weeks praying about my one little word for the year.  Last year it was {change} and oh my...how little I was prepared for the change that came our way! We went from a family of five happily living in Orlando, Florida, both of us working full time to a family of six living in Indonesia with Jason working his dream job and me being in language school, home with the kiddos, and staring my own website.  CRAZY!

As I was praying and thinking, I almost decided to change "one little word"  to "one little phrase": that which matters most. Last spring I made a simple list of things that mattered most to be -- a filter set through which every opportunity and commitment could be run.  I wrote it on a piece of paper towel (we were camping and it was all I could find) and it sits in my Bible.

Here is what it says:

THIS IS WHAT MATTERS and WHAT WILL MATTER

1. MY KIDS HAD A HAPPY CHILDHOOD
    a. Their mom and dad provided godly examples of man and woman.  They gave their
        children something to model themselves after
    b. They were given tastes of the world as a whole and they were exposed to enough
        things in life for them to
                i. know God's love for ALL people and ALL nations
                ii. make wise and fitting decisions for love and for life

2. MY LIFE WAS NOT WASTED
    a. I didn't put energy into pursuing things that won't last
    b. My skills, gifts, passions, etc were used to help others and to glorify God.

As I look at this, almost ten months later, I am convinced the words were from God Himself and I don't think I could rewrite my priorities any better. Summed up there is the life I want to live.

So, I almost used one little phrase this year.  But as I kept praying, the word HOME kept coming to me.   HOME (noun): A place where something flourishes, is most typically found, or from which it originates.

HOME is what I want to concentrate on.  I am facing the fact that I have an almost six year old (gasp!).  The other kids are growing up so fast despite that I have told them growing is strictly prohibited. I don't want to miss these years....I don't want to wake up one day and find out that my kids are all grown and I missed it.  I will not cope with that.

The other day I read this quote off of a friends blog:

You must know that there is nothing higher, or stronger, or sounder, or more useful afterwards in life, than some good memory, especially a memory from childhood, from the parental home. You hear a lot said about your education, yet some such beautiful, sacred memory, preserved from childhood, is perhaps the best education.

-Dosteovsky, Brothers Karamazov

This put words to a feeling in my heart -- so much of what I do as a parent is because I don't know what will be the thing my kids remember.  If I think back on my childhood and the bits and pieces I can remember, I realize we never know what memories will stick and what ones won't. As parents, we don't know that the cameras of their hearts are photographing.  Will they remember the time I snapped at them just because they made a small mistake.  Will they remember baking cookies and eating them before dinner just because it is fun?  I don't know.  But I want them to look back on their childhood and have it STRENGTHEN them. 

Therefore, I want to concentrate on home. Our home. These people I love so much. I want our home (regardless of where our house is) to be a place of peace, of contentment, of happiness. Amy Carmichael (missionary to India at the turn of the 20th century) made a simple and yet profound statement that stays with me wherever I go: "I don't think there could have been a happier child than was I."

THAT is what I want my kids to be able to say.

HOME, a place that something flourishes.  I hope we all flourish this year as I embrace the word {home}

Comments

[Kellie]

You are my hero and my inspiration. If I lived in your kampung I'd be a better person.

[Daisy]

Thanks for the wonderful blog entry! So inspirational, as usual! Makes me plan to be a better mother and wife, so that we'll all have wonderful memories of this time in our lives. Also, thanks for the coupons in the last grab bag! What a deal!!

[Hollie]

Awesome! So when is your book coming out again? :-)

[Melissa]

Great thoughts, Janet! I want the same thing - I think I'm not as good at getting it done, however. And I too have an almost 6 year old - how does that happen so fast? :)