What Is It That Makes a House a Home?

My Hyde Park at Tulsa Hills community is one of the stops if you're checking out the Parade of Homes in Tulsa this week. Four beautiful new houses are being featured -- houses with touch faucets, heated bathroom floors, geo-thermal energy features, high-end appliances, and so much more that makes a right-sized house so welcoming.

My post today, however, isn't about homes in the sense of mortar, brick, wood and stone. It's about human lives -- the people -- the families that live in those homes. I started thinking "What if there were a Parade of Homes that we could look at -- one that exemplified "family values" and a place where God's love and character showed Him to be the CENTER feature of their homes? You walked into THAT home and the atmosphere was warm, welcoming and you just wanted to hang out there.

We often say "God is our #1 priority!", and while that sounds really top-notch in terms of ranking order, I remember what my husband and I considered to be our main core value and non-negotiable. It was that God had to be right in the CENTER of our home and family. When a decision was made, it was based on what God's opinion would be. When a little "tiff" (my kids called it "Mom and Dad are having another 'discussion') would arise between my husband and I, we couldn't let the "tiff" last for long, because our CENTER always (sometimes later than sooner) drew us back to harmony and peace.

Our CENTER meant we prayed together, laughed together, listened to each other, helped each other, encouraged each other, forgave each other and gave each other lots of hugs. Did we always get it right? No, but because our CENTER was our non-negotiable, we did course corrections and soon came back to our CENTER. Most certainly, if we made God our CENTER, then, who knows, just maybe others would be drawn to make Him their CENTER, too.

“....but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.” Joshua 24:15.