“Yet feet that wandering have gone
Turn at last to home afar.”
—Bilbo, The Hobbit
These words have been on my mind this week as I started painting the fence that my wife and I built nearly a year ago. It was a journey we began shortly after purchasing our cottage in our quaint little village. We decided to build a French Gothic-inspired picket fence alongside our home. Many might say this is the typical American dream: to have a white picket fence around the yard. Yet I wonder if they are only seeing the finished picture through rose-colored glasses.
Throughout the building process, as we joyously labored to make each picket by hand, I couldn’t help but gain a deeper appreciation for crafting something that could potentially weather storms for a few decades, stand tall against whatever might try to enter our yard, and, most of all, surround a place where we hope to see our children play.
As with many things in life that we labor over and craft using our own talents, there is a deeper understanding and appreciation for something you build with your own two hands, especially when it falls outside your normal skill or trade. If you have an older home, then you personally know the challenges that come with maintaining one and how important it is to stay on top of its needs, since you are its keeper.
As I painted, alone with God and my thoughts, each stroke of the brush gave me pause to examine my own heart more closely. Maintaining our home and striving to be a good steward of what the Lord has given me to enjoy and use for His glory in this temporary life is about more than tending to a house that will decay if it is not cared for.
I couldn’t help but think the same is true in other parts of my life. If I don’t tend to my marriage and my own spiritual growth, something inside will begin to decay and wither. God, who created us and is the great Craftsman of our souls, has given us what we need to grow strong as an oak rather than wither inside. We only have to open His Word and seek Christ.
Being the keeper and steward of a home is about more than decorating its exterior or interior. You can hire someone to come in, learn your tastes, and do all the decorating. You can also hire a contractor to repair something that you may not want—or may not know how—to repair yourself. But does hiring someone mean that you are no longer the keeper and steward of your home?
I don’t believe it does. There is certainly nothing wrong with hiring someone when you lack the necessary skills or simply don’t have the time to complete the work. Sometimes being a good keeper means recognizing what you cannot do yourself. Yet a home is still far more than a house with four walls and a roof, or a picket fence that you painted.
It is a place where memories and family traditions are preserved. A place of warmth, where friends are welcomed around the table. A place to rest after a long day. A place where God is King and Christ is Lord.
A place where, thirty years from now, I can remember how wonderful my wife looked as we danced around our kitchen after preparing a meal together.
A place where, after all the work is done for the day and the tools have been put away, I can look back and say, “Thank You, Lord, for this home You have blessed me with and entrusted to my care as its temporary earthly keeper.”
And while I am thankful for this home, my heart still longs for the one I will never have to build or maintain, because its Builder has already laid the plans and finished the work.
There is room by the hearth.
~ RLN
Great insights. We'll said.