Shelter of the Spirit

I am taking advantage of kids not feeling good to catch up on some post today. We are all snuggled up on the couch watching movies and enjoying ...so I am posting.


This book...Shelter for the Spirit is wonderful. I posted about it awhile back and said I would post notes on it if I liked it. Well I am on my third time through...(Thank You Mom) my mother in law loaned it to me and I really need to get it back to her.

In the first sentence of the first Chapter, she says "A house can reveal te extent of your assets, but a home reveals the expanse of your heart." This is so true. We can have the prettiest house on the block or the fanciest house down that road (if you live in the country, it is the fanciest house that is visible from the road...) and that shows how much money we have or how much we are in debt. But the home part of that house is what shows who we are. It shows our heart and soul. She goes on in this chapter to explain how she has made her house a home with her daughter (she lost her husband years ago). She explains the foundations of a home.

This got me to thinking what my house says. Does it say "Home" or House. I started looking at the outside of my house. It is a double wide trailer. Definately doesnt scream money. I havent had time to plant flowers or anything like that or the money to do it. There is an old freezer sitting on my porch because I havent had the money to pay someone to haul it off and I dont know where to take it. So the outside of my house says it is lived in but it doesnt exactly convey that homey feeling....that when someone pulls up they can say that it is a home...it is just a house....now the backyard is a different story. the toys speak for theirselves...

So I need to work on that, I need for my house to say home when I pull up and look at it and to me that means I need flowers in my flower bed and a wreath on my door...maybe one my kids help me make....

Now the inside......It says home to me. It is lived in, It has special memories everywhere and it is very messy sometimes. Now my husband is a different story. To him, a home is a place where you can come and relax...relaxing to him is not having to step over laundry or having to clear dishes out of the sink and not having to look for clean clothes...Now my house is not always like this but some days it is and on those days it is a day of stress for my husband...he cant come home and relax, he comes home and feels closed in.

So I have started trying to make my house more of a home for my husband....I have started trying to keep the laundry put up and the dishes done and keep the clutter picked up...now the toys dont bother him so much and the kids dont bother hime so...they are fine.

Also, Homemade meals make the house more of a home to me and him so we are working on more homemade from scratch stuff and less boxed convenience food.

Home to me is also decorations for the holidays and keepsakes setting around so I am working on the kids making some decorations....

What is home to you...Is your house a home or just a house......What can you do to make it a home.....and Shelter your Spirit?

Love and Prayers
Crystal