Welcome to my SANCTUARY!

While having my morning devotion time, I looked at the sign on my fireplace hearth, SANCTUARY, that I see every day. But yesterday it resonated with me more than ever. I looked at the back of it to see when it was that my friend gave it to me. It is dated October 10, 2010. That was just before my precious husband had a pain pump surgically placed in his body to help subside the pain he suffered for so long. Though the surgery was successful, we still had to make the decision to go on hospice.

SANCTUARY: a place of refuge or safety, haven, shelter, hideaway, port in a storm.

Indeed, my friend knew that we needed to be reminded of the SANCTUARY we have in our relationship with God. I remember that because we determined that our home would be a SANCTUARY in that season of our lives. Indeed, we had peace and joy throughout the remaining days of my Sweetheart's life. As I wrote that word in my journal, I knew it would be my word of the day because I sensed it might be a word that some of my friends, who are facing some tough times, need to become familiar with because of the place of refuge, shelter, port in the storm they need today.

So how do we find that place of peace and the place to escape from the everyday stressors of life – an escape from busyness and chaos! That place where we find peace in our hearts and souls when with everything in us, wants to run for our lives.

We watched a lot of basketball when our daughter played in high school. We always loved having “home court advantage” over the visiting team. The home team fans were out in droves and the team spirit elevated our team's thinking AND their game. Home court advantage applies to the SANCTUARY that our home becomes as a haven of peace, love and rest when we treat it that way. It becomes our "home court advantage".

The politics. The news. The shootings. The weather. The hate. The worry. I turn the news on and then I turn it off quickly. It reminds me why I rarely, if ever, watch those live news broadcasts anymore. I don’t have the stomach OR heart for it all. The combative nature in people these days and the us vs. them mentality wears on my spirit. I don’t quite know what to make of it all, but as I sit down to write loving, comforting words for myself and for my readers, God places my attention on a little sign that says, “SANCTUARY” with a scripture reference of Mark 6:31 “Come away to a secret place and rest for while” that reels me back in to what matters most.

I don’t know what your world looks like today. You may have young children jumping off of the furniture and climbing in your pantry. Their sibling rivalry is at peak performance. Your spouse may be overloaded in worries and care. Your to-do list is way too long to stop in at the SANCTUARY. I know that atmosphere. It is very familiar to me. But what became the most familiar to me and the priority in my home was making God -- my deepest source of meaning, unconditional love and real peace. It can be found -- even in small increments of time. I promise you, when our priority is, first and foremost, going to the SANCTUARY sometime throughout our day, it will create a settled, peace-filled home because of the presence of a holy, loving, awe-inspiring God. When we ask Him to settle into our homes and our home-life with us, He does it. He is available, present and more life-giving and peace-giving than everything else combined.

Today, I offer you a glance at my sign. SANCTUARY. Doesn’t that sound like a relief, hearing it put like that? That lovely, reassuring place of safety. Relief from all the ugliness out there. A break from it all. What if SANCTUARY looked like nothing more complicated than a hot, comforting cup of coffee? A cozy pair of slippers. A fire in the fireplace. A pen in our hand, a blank page beckoning, with a Bible or devotional book nearby. Going to the SANCTUARY and having moments of quiet, deep peace and rest and the assurance “It is well with my soul.”