What makes a home

 

I never thought I would live in a "retirement" community. I had many preconceived notions, some of which were true. The high point of the day for some is getting the mail. When you walk at night the motion detector lights salute you all the way down the street. And if you leave the water running, there are always those who act as if they personally had to pay for that extra water running down the street.

 

And I complain because every time I want to use the treadmill someone has gotten to it first. I gave up and started running on the pavement, and that is probably why my back feels like it does now.

 

A plus side, if you could call it that, is that you are reminded of your mortality at least once a week when the firetruck or ambulance comes through. You learn who gets a regular visit....who is on oxygen, who is taking care of a terminally ill husband or wife.

 

You know Larry by the loud burst of song as he walks out the door to walk his dog Annie. Rosalee walks with sticks. And I hold the distinction of being the only "runner" in the park, though I use that term loosely. Now I am the crippled runner until I can find a spot on the treadmill.

 

There are plus sides to this life. Many times I don't lock the door and I never lock the car. People watch your stuff. They let you know when someone has been there when your not at home. When I moved into this place, the motive was to get out of debt........It is the best thing I ever did.

 

I had a beautiful custom home up in Payson, and I was in a very nice home before, and the two previously. But honestly, this manufactured home feels more like home than all the others.

 

Some people were downright upset at this decision. They thought we were "taking a step down."

 

But I have felt closer to the Lord in this place than I have felt anywhere else. That is what makes me feel more at home here than any of those others. I am proud of what we've done to make it a place of warmth and invitation. A place that makes you want to stay awhile.

 

 

 

Home is where you feel at peace, wherever that is. Home tugs at your heart.

And if you don't feel a warmth when you look through the windows at night? You are not home yet.

 

And for me, home always holds a bit of sorrow right along with the joy. The walls hold the good times but also the hard times. The times of sacrifice. But always, home is a refuge from the world outside. I never leave without carrying a bit of it with me.

 

And you see those stacks of wood I purposefully left against the side of the house? Those represent making a place even better than when you found it.

 

I think that makes God happy. After all, it's what He is trying to do with me. And when I get to my permanent home? I will be much better off than when He found me.

 

I will finally be complete.

 

^"........being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus."