Lydon!
At (very) long last, I am making a few rounds and catching up on my reading. This is a lovely piece, Brah!
I too have very strong feelings about "home," as well as perhaps an observation or two to add...
Sadly, not everyone has had the blessing of growing up in a beautifully balanced family situation, and for those all too many, "home" brings back unpleasant memories of privation--and for some--even physical beatings and abuse. This is the sad state of our fallen universe.
Nonetheless, your description of how home "ought to be" and properly "is," provides a shining beacon and a hope even for those who have not as yet experienced "true home." And then there are those of us more or less on middle ground, with a mixture of experiences of "home" both wonderfully nostalgic and utterly horrifying--depending on the day, circumstances, setting, and frame of mind our parents may have been in.
I often contemplate the future life of those of us kindly favored by Jesus/God and adopted into his family. We will one day sit around his kitchen table and enjoy the richest and ultimate blessing of "home life" experience, in perpetuity. I have said more than once in the past, and will, God willing, continue to say this:
In this life, we often reflect "There's no place like home."
In the eternal glory of New Heavens and New Earth, we will have a "Revised Standard Version" of that characterization. Then, and for eternity, we will say:
"There's no place but home."🙏😇❤️😁
Blessings, friend!
😄😇😉
There is no place but home…. I like that. Going to use that one in the future. Yes, hearing stories from my wife as she counsels people is a stark reminder of the blessing of a good home. Grateful to always BE home in His presence. Blessings brother!!