Day 29. Heart and Home

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As the old saying goes, home is where the heart is. The Holiday season is surely a time to be grateful for your home, the resting spot for your body, and the place to renew your spirit.

Home means different things to different people. Some folks prefer that their home be placed in a crowded, bustling city. Others call the quiet countryside a place to call home. And lots more others make their home in a place that’s somewhere in between.

Do you love to be home? Not everyone does. “Homebody” doesn’t fit all people and personalities.

For some, home is a merely a form of shelter and a crash pad to drop by every now and again.

On Christmas, Mary and Joseph made a makeshift home from whence to welcome the birth of God’s son, Jesus Christ. For them, the manger with sweet hay and soft lowing of animals, was a good enough home that night.

Home is what you make it.

The word “home” can conjure up painful memories to some. A household that’s rife with conflict and dysfunction certainly doesn’t feel like a safe place to rest your heart. A house where deprivation is a fact of life may not feel like home, either.

If you grew up in a home full of love and comforts, then be glad for this! It’s something that we tend to take for granted.

Exercise 29: What does home mean to you?

Think about your childhood home. What did you love about it? What aspects of your home life could you have done without?

Did you have certain attachments related to your home growing up that now color your adult life? Rituals that your family always participated in, comfort foods, things that you always did with family?

Did others see your home as a welcoming place? When someone came to visit you at your home, did you feel proud of your family and at ease to have them in your territory?

What did the house where you grew up look like?
What about the yard? The street you lived on?
What did the inside of your home look like? Was it happily disheveled, or tidy and free of clutter?

And the place that you call home in your adult life… is it modeled after your childhood home? Or did you happily cast aside aspects of your former home, in favor of creating a home space for yourself that’s more in line with your needs?