‘Anne suddenly came close to Marilla and slipped her hand into the older woman’s hard palm.
“It’s lovely to be going home and know it’s home,” she said. “I love Green Gables already and I never loved any place before. No place ever seemed like home. Oh, Marilla, I’m so happy. I could pray right now and not find it a bit hard.” ‘- from Anne of Green Gables
We played Pass the Pigs at 8am. I made sweet oatmeal and wheat toast slathered with rich, salty butter. They teased and laughed over checkers while I snuck in thirty minutes on the elliptical.
Today I just want home.
I don’t want merry laughter, festive music, or crowds of people. Silver bells can hang quietly while we squeeze onto the sofa and watch A Miracle on 34th Street and It’s a Wonderful Life.
It’s time to make this house feel a little more like home.
Like Mary and Joseph were led to a stable, we have been led here, to this place today. Sometimes you have to lean into that fact and find a way to make your today feel like the true home your heart seeks.
The children hardly notice that as the days pass along, this family is heading somewhere. They know breakfast, lunch, and dinner are certainties. They know Christmas presents and candy canes are around, somewhere.
But they don’t really know that every advent scripture read, every game enjoyed, every prayer over them, every smile, every profession of love, all those things push us along closer and closer to the true home their hearts will one day seek, too.
We are laboring and birthing God’s dreams for us, and treasuring the mystery of His redemption in our hearts. It doesn’t always make sense. It’s often not easy.
But we are in it together, and the greatest piece of love God has given us is one another.
Today I know that I want home most of all, and these people are the first place that have ever really felt like home. Like Anne, I could pray right now and not find it a bit hard.
