It was the day we dedicated that house of ours. As a kid, I had never heard of anyone else dedicating their house before. Dedicating something to me was so holy and serious, more for temples and holy places. But isn’t a home one of the most holy and sacred places there can be? Isn’t that where we want to build strong families and feel love from God and give that love back the very most? In the dictionary, to dedicate means to “devote (something) to a particular subject or purpose” and we were dedicating that house of ours to the Lord.
I don’t remember much about that day of our home dedication, but I remember loving that we did it. My dad offered a special prayer of thanks and gratitude, and a blessing on the house itself. I remember my Dad explaining that that house of ours was really God’s and how he wanted us to create the best environment possible in there. My Dad blessed our house that it could be a great vessel in which he and my Mom could raise us. I remember many a night when I felt so grateful for that blessing. I felt like my Dad had helped a wonderful spirit permeate through the house and it made me feel so safe and peaceful.
That isn’t, of course, to say there was never fighting. There was plenty of that going on. I’m pretty sure that sweet dedication prayer wasn’t in the front of my mind when I kicked a hole in my wall when I was so hopping-mad at my brother I just could hardly stand it. It still flooded in the heavy rains and had myriads of getting-old problems. But it was a safe haven for all of us and we knew it and felt it.
When Dave and I moved in and got settled in our own first home thirteen years ago, we dedicated it. I feel like that same safe, loving spirit permeated through that house just as it did in my growing-up house. We felt it was such a blessing to be able to “grow” our family in that home that holds so many of our memories.
After we got all the hoopla done on the new house (up to and including all those last-minute house projects from the last post), Dave and I decided it would be a good time to dedicate it. We gathered together on our last Sunday we were home and said a special prayer together in thanks and gratitude and love. We talked about how we had worked our love and dedication into the walls of the house reminisced looking at the pictures from that day way back in construction mode.
(More on that back HERE.) We talked about how much we want to take care of that home and how grateful we are for it…how we want it to always be a safe haven for our family and for anyone else we will gather there.
And Dave offered up a special prayer to Heaven.
It was a beautiful blessing. Just long enough that Max felt so much love and peace that he fell right asleep on his knees. Ha!
This is how we looked that day back in August, when our whole world was swirling around us ready for change. We knew we were in for the adventure of a lifetime. And were so thankful that great house would be waiting for us when we got home.
Love it!..
You are so stinkin beautiful! Inside and out.
Where can I find that rug?