The Lord is amazing. His ways are so far beyond my own that it leaves me smiling at His perfection. How He can take a simple occasion and use it flawlessly (and often times, unpredictably) to accomplish His perfect will. He truly does all things well.
What girl doesn't like to set up house? (After all, I'm the wife, my job is watch over and tend to the home [Titus 2:5; Proverbs 14:1])."Let's try this piece of furniture here, oh wait, maybe over there and turn it a little to the left. And that picture should go right there...ahh...perfect!" And so it goes over the past couple of weeks in our house. We are turning this new house of ours into a home.
Every family has items within their house that helps make it a home; things that assist in making their space a place of refreshment and restoration from the work and events of the day. Perhaps its a cozy chair, a shelf full of books, pictures on the wall, fresh flowers on the table. For me, it's a well-chosen yummy-smelling Yankee Candle. Something about the smell of Sweet Strawberry during the spring and summer months, or Spiced Pumpkin during Fall, or a Christmasy scent during the holidays...it feels welcoming and makes it feel like "home" to me.
Many who are close to me know of my love for these candles and so lovingly and generously sent me overseas with several! I just recently unpacked these precious gifts from my crates (I haven't seen them since we packed them 1-1/2 years ago). My heart was blessed and overjoyed! The Lord knows how I am a scent-oriented person...He made me that way. :)
Ok, back to my story. So, last week, Corey and Catelyn were busy setting up our computer and electronics in our office. Corey had pulled our desk away from the wall in order to reach behind it to organize all the cords and such. From the kitchen I call for my husband to help me for a moment. Being the loving husband that he is, he left his work, and his little assistant, for a moment to come help his wife. A few moments after he arrived in the kitchen, it happened. A heart-sinking, stomach-dropping moment: the sound of a large heavy item falling down, accompanied by the sound of wood and glass breaking and being thrown across a room. Immediately we run to the room, not knowing what we will find, only knowing the office was left with the top-heavy hutch off-centered resting temporarily on top of a desk with our 5-year-old "working" in there and our toddler roaming the house somewhere.
We hurry in to find the hutch toppled face down on the floor with lots of broken items scattered everywhere in the room and our 5-year-old standing upright, stiff as a board, with real fear in her eyes. Immediately Corey lifts the hutch in search of Ella. She's not underneath, she was in another room - praise God! Catelyn is terrified and repeating the words, "I'm so sorry." over and over again. She was truly frightened. We check to make sure she is ok and reassure her that everything is fine and she's not in trouble. The room looked like someone picked up the room and shook it violently and set it back down - its was a mess!
Both kids are fine...our hearts are full of gratitude and relief. We comfort them and get them settled in the other room to play, so that we can get to work on cleaning up the mess.
We both walk back into the room and the first thing I see is glass everywhere...and at my feet, a label that reads "Yankee Candle - Sweet Strawberry." The day before, I had placed all my candles on the hutch until I found a place to put them later. My heart sank...I actually felt tears rise, but I struggled to hold them back (yes, over candles...sigh). At that moment, I was confronted. Now what? The very items that "make my house a home" are now gone, so now what? Do they really make it "home?" I confess, I wrestled with these thoughts as a swept up the glass and pieces of broken candles. I was realizing that I had elevated these wonderful gifts to a place where they ought not to be. They merely assist in making a home welcoming and pleasant, nothing more. I'm thankful to say that God quickly gave me an understanding into what He was revealing to me: He will make our house a home; His Presence will be what is welcoming and pleasant. He will be the fragrance that is in the air. As I continued to sweep with tears welling up in my eyes over my (pathetic) "loss", yet also because of the joy of this truth from God, I was able to say to Corey, "I guess the Lord didn't want me to have these right now."
That day, my heart was found to be secretly holding on to something more than it ought to, and God, in His goodness, chose to reveal that to me. Though my candles were shattered, and our desk was greatly damaged, I found that it was my heart that was the thing that was truly in need of attention. So, as I sit here at my computer and look up at the large gash and missing piece on my desk, I am reminded of what truly makes my house a home: Christ. Without Him it is just a box with stuff in it and hurried frantic people running around from one problem to the next. But with Him, when He dwells within the hearts of His people - that changes everything. A stale house, becomes a warm and welcoming place. It is Christ who does this. It is He who is behind the sounds of my children's laughter, it is He who brings the cool breeze to soften the heat in the house, it is He who fills the air with the sweet aroma of Himself. And it is He who makes this house a home.
