Your Home

This post will not be about cooking. I have no recipes in this post and no cooking tips and no pictures of food. Hopefully it is still interesting.

I read a book this week called Inspired Design. Written by Roxanne Hughes Packham and Hannah Packham. I bought the book because I was a little interested in reading it but mostly because I wanted to support the ministry that the funds from the book would go to. I brought the book home thinking that it would look nice on my coffee table and I would open it and look at the pretty pictures when I had the time. Little did I know that once I cracked the book open I was hooked and I would finish the book in less than two days, going away from it inspired to use my home in a whole new way. My husband and I live in a small apartment. We are saving up for a down payment, so in the meantime we live in a conservative 583 square foot apartment that is just big enough for the two of us and we totally love it. I worked hard to decorate my little home to make it look like ours and to add my own touches to it when we first moved in. I am learning what a cozy and neat home can mean to people and to their lives. The book Inspired Design was written by an interior designer who uses her home and hospitable spirit to minister to and love other people. I could not imagine a more wonderful purpose for a home. It sounds a little like what God intended for women to do in their homes.

I remember hating cleaning my room when I was a child. I remember telling my mother that real friends would not care if the house was clean or dirty. My childish logic is funny to me now as I have come to realize that the reason you clean and decorate your home is to make people feel welcome and loved. To make them feel like they are important enough for you to clean and decorate and welcome them into your life and into a tidy home that is comfortable, beautiful, and peaceful.

My husband and I wrote our own vows at our wedding. One line that I wrote for him and promised to him was that I would "make our home a place of comfort, peace, and rest". I now add to that that I want our home to be warm and welcoming to others who come in. That my decorations will tell a story about the things we love and what we are passionate about. Wether that is a guestbook, a picture, a quote, or a color, I hope and pray that our souls and love for God, each other, and other people will be clearly conveyed through the little 583 square foot apartment.