Home Sweet Home

I've been doing a lot of thinking about our home lately.  After my last post declaring we had finally finished painting our entryway, I went to town searching for new ways to decorate it.  I searched Pinterest, Houzz.com, looked in magazines, searched through Overstock.  You name the website, I was on it.  I found myself cutting off my time in the Word in the morning so I could grab my ipad and start looking.  I tried to have Jake play by himself for just a little bit longer so I could check out that other house renovation blog.  I didn't realize that this decorating ordeal was becoming an obsession until my sweet Shepherding Bible Study leader sent all of us a blog post she recently read titled "What is the purpose of the home?" 

What can I say, God is so good at getting my attention.

This blog post reminded me that our home is a place of rest.  I should want to keep it decluttered and looking nice so my family can be at peace when they are in it.  It's a place where thankfulness dwells.  I should be thankful for the way my home looks currently and the fact that we are warm in the winter and we have a place to store our food and cook meals.  My home is a place where I welcome friends and strangers and those who are lonely.  Where I can be generous to others and where we can share meals and fellowship.  This is the true purpose for my home. 

I love it when she says "If we don’t cultivate a high and holy design for our homes, it is easy to slip into thoughts of frustration, comparison, or purposelessness."

Can we decorate and renovate our homes?  Of course.  But we need to do so with the true purpose of our homes in the forefront. I have lots of friends who decorate their home and do not do so for approval from others. They aren't obsessive about it. They purely enjoy decorating and take their time with it. They are thankful for what they have, and when they have the moment (and funds :), they enjoy changing things up or adding new pictures or a new chair to a specific room.

I, however, was so caught up in the small details of our home, and actually becoming stressed and anxious over *gasp* a rug in our entryway, that I was completely missing the big picture. You see, I was focusing on what the internet, magazines, and HGTV tell me that the purpose of my home is: a place to impress outsiders.  What was driving my hours of researching was a desire for approval from friends, family, and anyone who reads this blog and would see pictures of it to tell me that I'm so creative and that I'm a great decorator. 

Currently when people come into our home and we gave them "the tour" I find myself explaining how we want to change something in each room.  I will say " and this is our bedroom- but don't worry we're going to paint and add this and that's why I have these lemons because once we paint it... yada yada yada."  I assure them that our home is a work in progress.  There is no way we would live in our house in the current condition without changing the paint color, or doing this, or doing that.  I would say these things in hopes they wouldn't judge me for the way a specific unfinished room in our home looked.  The last thing I wanted to show people is that I was ungrateful for our home, and I sadly feel that they were left with that impression.

Sure I have walked into homes and felt impressed by their size, or their cleanliness, or how perfectly decorated it was.  But really, the homes that I loved the most were the ones where I was invited to make myself at home. Where I sat around with a blanket and a cup of coffee curled up on their couch.  (or let's be honest.. a glass of wine here or there ;)

So, I have still been working on decorating our home, but it's not as obsessive.  I'm keeping the big picture in focus, enjoying the process more, and growing in my spirit of thankfulness.  I am really looking forward to making our home into just that, our home.  Here are some things that are starting to make it feel like that.

For Jake's room!