She dropped by unannounced.
And I couldn’t help cringing somewhat. Ever-so-slightly mortified.
You see, she was an author, something of a celebrity, and now a personal friend. So, of course, I was thrilled to see her, but was also deeply concerned about the impression we were making. Suddenly self-conscious of the layer of dust on the piano and the ridiculous pile of dirty socks by the front door.
I faintly whispered to my husband, “Oh, what must she be thinking??”
And his helpful response, “That we live here.” (Thank you, Dear).
Patrick and Ruth Schwenk are the creators of For the Family. Their mission is to encourage and equip families to build God-honoring homes. They offer free, practical resources that every family can benefit from.
But we soon lost ourselves in conversation.
We enjoyed a lovely time of catching up on each others’ lives. Ignoring the young boys rollerblading through the entryway and the teens crooning love songs while cleaning up the lunch dishes. Our own happy kind of chaos.
The hour passed quickly and our glamorous friend got up to go. Before leaving, however, she turned to say something. Then stopped. Clearly something was on her mind.
“I don’t know quite how to say this….,” she began.
Oh dear. Here it comes.
“But you know what I’ve noticed whenever I’m in your home?”
The dust? The heap of shoes on the porch? An impressive amount of loud noise? Some of my silent guesses.
“It’s the peace that I find here.”
Hubby gave me a slight nudge.
Well. What d’ya know. Where I saw mess and mayhem, she saw joy and contentment. A peaceful home.
Read the complete post and the “10 Things” here.
APPLICATION: Which one of the ten are you working on? Please leave a comment below. Thank you.
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When I was a child my mom was a neatness guru! We used to visit other families that we were friends with and my fondest memories were of visiting the friends that had more love in their home than the latest possessions. Reading this reminded me of that memory and we always need reminders to slow down and change our perspectives and the importance we place on the wrong things sometimes. I have been stressing over keeping up with things as I am raising two grandchildren so I feel like I was meant to see this as a reminder to slow down and pick my battles! Thank you!
That’s the best reality story I’ve heard in a long time.
What a wonderful example of love and kindness when you have Jesus’ in your hearts and house.
Thank you a wonderful reminder of how others are watching us.
Remember, when people see Jesus’in us He is pleased.
I can totally relate to this article. I would love to have my house spotless for every visitor that stops by but that is not the way it happens. I am learning to be more relaxed about it when people just stop by. I want my neighbours to know that I am not annoyed when they just pop in unannounced. If I continue to apologize for all the things out of place they will see that I am uncomfortable and it could mean they won’t feel at liberty to stop in for a favour or a chat or whatever. I want my home to be a place of peace as was mentioned in the article.