Autumn Home Decor Tour

“Few things are more important than finding a home and working at it constantly

to make it resonate with deep memories and fulfill deep longings.” ~ Thomas Moore

My daughter was 3 when I first started writing/blogging and this past summer she just turned 15. It’s mind boggling how quickly the time goes! Now that she has her driver’s permit and is hitting the roads with her terrified parents holding on for dear life, she’s thinking ahead to purchasing her first car.

So, in June we encouraged her to think of ways to make some money and start saving up for that car. She decided that rebuilding her Lego sets and selling them would be the perfect dual purpose project. It would free up space by getting rid of things she no longer plays with and make her some money in the process.

Little did we know that we would find ourselves spending many an evening after dinner on the floor of our game room with piles of Lego pieces all around us. We would bring in the portable speaker and work our way through different decades of music while we color sorted and helped her find Lego pieces one by one to complete each set.

My husband and I would sing along to the songs (there may have been some dancing too) while our daughter alternated between laughing and rolling her eyes at us. We would chat and tell stories and have competitions over who could find a missing piece the fastest. At one point my husband and I threatened to unionize if our working conditions didn’t improve (its hot up in that room next to the attic!) but we agreed to purchase a fan and avoided a strike. Whew. 😉

And, as August began to wind down, Lauren told me, “Mom, I love our Lego evenings. It’s just fun being together like that and I think it’s been my favorite thing we’ve done this summer.”

It wasn’t the vacation we went on or the dinners out or any of the other special activities we enjoyed that really stood out to her. It was those evenings spent on the floor together looking for Lego pieces.

The love she felt being on the receiving end of our undivided attention and the help we were giving met a need her teenage heart probably couldn’t even recognize is there.

We never really know which activities are going to make the most lasting impacts on our family. And I’ve found that, many times, it’s the moments that seem so small and insignificant which make the biggest imprint on our hearts.

Knowing and being known by others is one of the deepest longings of our hearts and our homes provide us with the unique opportunity to fill that longing.

I truly consider it the greatest privilege of my life to be a homemaker. To be the ‘maker’ of our home.

Don’t get me wrong, there have definitely been days when it’s felt like a burden. On my shoulders rests a significant responsibility. As a wife and mother, a great deal of the ‘tone’ of our home is set by me. Sometimes that tone has been quite off pitch if you know what I mean.

But, it’s never been about perfection. It’s always been about creating a place where we can all be perfectly imperfect together. Where we are intentional about making an imprint on each other’s lives, creating those deep memories and filling those longings.

This year, as I decorated for fall, I found myself alternating between two words to describe my role. Yes, I am a homemaker. But, I also keep thinking about the word ‘caretaker’.

Taking care of this home and the people who reside here with me is no small calling. Sometimes, many times, it will feel less than thrilling.

But, then you have those moments when your daughter tells you how much Lego building together means to her. Or where your college student son spontaneously brings home your favorite chocolate as a gift to you. And you realize that all of it, every last bit of it, is building a foundation far more solid than the one under your feet.

As my children are getting older and being launched into adulthood, I’m becoming increasingly more aware of the fact that, as much as we’ve worked to create a solid foundation for them in our home from which they will spring out into the world, none of it compares to the foundation that comes from knowing and being known by their Creator.

Yes, many of their deepest longings will be met here in our home. But, ultimately, their greatest longing will only be met in a personal relationship with the One who put that longing in their hearts in the first place.

As the shorter days reflect the changing season and I look at the leaves beginning to turn to glorious shades of gold and orange outside my window, I’m humbled by the role I’ve been given in this world and more determined than ever to make the most of it.

“Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours. Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and you are exalted as head above all. Both riches and honor come from you, and you rule over all. In your hand are power and might, and in your hand it is to make great and to give strength to all.” 1 Chronicles 29:11-12

 

Happy Autumn to you dear friends,