Home Sweet Home

Home Sweet Home

Home Sweet Home hangs above my bed as a representation of my family; my husband, myself and our three sons.  It's idyllic portrait to be sure; loving, sweet and peace-filled, representing my dreams to be a wonderful wife and mother bird.  But real life is quite a bit more messy.  Real life is woven with ups, downs, joys, conflicts, sweet memories and imperfections.

In real life, there comes a time when the birdies leave the nest, when all that's left inside are memories and empty rooms.....an empty nest.  We're not in that stage yet, but we're getting a taste of it.  It's a good thing, to be sure, for birdies to grow, and try their wings, and fly, but it's a hard thing too.

For the ones leaving home and the ones being left, saying "good-bye" is painful.  We realize that the time we had together was short - it just flew by.  We may experience regret for what we did or didn't do.  Reality strikes, and we realize it wasn't meant to be that we all stay nestled together forever.  Our babies were made to be able to fly.....away.

Home Sweet Home also represents something much deeper, something much more profound, something akin to a parable.  Home Sweet Home is not just limited to a  place.  It's not just a family unit.  It's not just a short little span of time that we have together.

Home Sweet Home is a state of being.....loved.  It's knowing that no matter where we go, who we're with, no matter what we do or don't do, we will never find ourselves forgotten, abandoned or alone.....because we have a Home with our Father who is always with us.  He is our Sweet Home.

Long ago, the LORD gave His people a golden symbol of His holy presence.  He wanted His beloved ones to know that they would always be with Him;  protected, loved and.....at Home.....if they remained under His wings.  The Ark of the Covenant testified .....The LORD was their Sweet Home.

Beneath the slogan and painting above my bed, the Golden Rectangle Quilt covers me with silent reminders of  God's covenant promises.   These visuals remind me that God's presence is always near no matter where we go, because He has made His Home in the hearts of those who love and trust Him.  Our hearts are His home.

When my birdies venture off and leave the nest, I have the assurance that wherever they fly, Abba Father is always near, and under His wings they will find......Home Sweet Home!  In this promise, I will rest. 

   He will cover you with His feathers, 

and under his wings you will find refuge.

Psalm 91:4

Celebrate the Light!

Two recycled candle holders newly adorn my dining room table.  I admit, they're kind of big and awkward, but that's OK, they have a story to tell.  These are souvenirs from my first Passover Seder.

Because the Seder I attended was such a memorable occasion for me, I decided to take home the empty Manischewitz wine bottle from my table, as a souvenir.  The sweet tasting wine brought back memories to me of when my church used to serve this brand of wine for communion.  I liked the connection it signified to me between what I had always known and what I was learning.  A friend encouraged to take home two bottles and use them for candle holders, so without any qualms, I plucked a second bottle from the trash.

Hmmm.....what to do?  As usual, I pondered over ideas for a while before deciding how to decorate the bottles that I would use as candle holders.  I decided to cover them with the names of God, both in English and Hebrew.  On the body of the bottles, I decoupaged tissue paper and pictures representing some of the names of Christ.  The images came from the Adornaments that my boys had learned from each year, when we had celebrated Christ at Christmas.  

The bottles also display the beginning and ending letters of the Greek and the Hebrew alphabets.  This is to depict what Jesus, Yeshua, says about himself in Revelation 22:13,  "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End."  

In the Paleo-Hebrew alephbet , the first letter, the aleph, meant "strength" - depicted by the symbol an ox head. The last letter of the alephbet, tav, had as its letter picture, an X or a cross - a symbol or sign of "covenant". Consequently, aleph-tav literally means, "strength of the covenant".  So Yeshua is declaring here, "I am the strength of the covenant!"  The implications of this statement go deep, and this understanding has been life-changing for me.

Decorating each candle ring, is a Star of David.  With six points, it symbolizes God's rule over the universe in all six directions: north, south, east, west, up and down.  It speaks to the hope that we find when we place our trust in the LORD.  I also see it as representational of the promised, anointed, King of Righteousness, the Son of David.

Just as the names of God shed light on His character, so  shall these candles shed light on our table as we dine and fellowship together.  I pray that they will spark many a conversation about our LORD.  He is worthy of our conversation, our wonder, our praise and worship!

The Light of the World has come.....in the form of Yeshua the Messiah!

Let's celebrate Him!