I know a person’s home reflects as
much about her tastes as it does her place along her journey, but I was
hard-pressed to imagine the whimsy that inspired this design.
I felt as though
we had kayaked into a nursery rhyme. “There was an old woman who lived in a
shoe. She had so many children she didn't know what to do. . .
Peter, Peter pumpkin eater, had a wife and couldn't keep her. He put
her in a pumpkin shell . . . ”
As we
paddled deeper into the cove, I imagined poking the bulging side with a paddle
and watching it explode, or unseating it from its foundation and seeing it
float away, or maybe bounce along the bank and bob along the water.
There’s
no end to the creative endeavors people put into their homes. A quick search of
unusual homes offers the following sample:
For the
extreme prepper, who still wants the amenities of luxury living, there is the Zombie-
proof concrete house, (complete with indoor swimming pool)that folds up into an
impenetrable box, the only entrance is over a drawbridge.
For the
ocean lover—a
seashell house.
For the
hermit—a
house on a rock.
Making
home digs deep into the things we value. Whether playful or peaceful, bulging
at the seams with friends and family, or silent and austere with meditation,
our homes, in part, enable us to use the gifts we have been given.
I've discovered
being an HGTV (House Hunters International, yes!) junkie (and yes, I did enter
the Dream House contest) helps me to define the things that are important to me
in a house at this stage of my journey. (I know, I know. Didn't we
just finish renovating a house?) But my husband and I think we have one more in
us.
And so,
we pack up my father-in-law and scour the countryside for properties. At the
end of the day we say: “Okay, we need to eliminate one. Which one will it be?” Our little game helps us to stay
on track, to keep refining and redefining what we've come to
value—peace, serenity, and beauty.
Sometimes
I feel guilty about enjoying these pleasures. But when I have guests and they are able
to sit by the pool, surrounded by bird-song filled trees, shed their tensions
and soak in beauty, I know it is the gift I have been given.
So come
on by. Once you make it past the initial canine chaos at the front door, I
guarantee a relaxing afternoon. And maybe, if that HGTV van comes along with my
winnings—we’ll move on over lakeside!
How about
you? What do you like in a house? How
does your home reflect the place you are in life? Do you think the different
places you've lived have been representative of your journey and
gifts?
And don’t
you wonder just what that final place is going to look like?—the one whose
architect and builder is God!
