Welcoming December and the Holidays!

Last night I took the opportunity to create ... and work on the Jessica Sprague prompts from the Holidays in Hand course I took a few weeks ago. I'm already a little behind - but I'm not going to let that dampen my enthusiasm or my resolve to work on this project!

For yesterday's assignment I was to read this article by Cynthia Townley Ewer (Welcome Home, for the Holidays) and write my thoughts. Here they are:

"A holiday home is welcoming home. ... We seek a welcoming home, one that invites guests inside and surrounds them with warmth. A welcoming home, happy center or our families Christmas celebration. A welcoming home, that greets and enfold us with light and cheer and good smells at the end of each busy day. ... This is a house where life is, and never more happily than during the holidays. ... The welcoming home springs from a room in the heart not a room in the house. ... A welcoming home. To have one, we must refurnish our heart, not our house." -Cynthia Townley Ewer-

When I think about a welcome home, I think about PEACE. Which just happens to be my WORD of the year. A house full of peace is what I strive for (and often fail miserably at). A house full of laughter and fun and no strife. A place where people feel cherished and loved and welcome -- especially the people who live here (my husband and children and my self - and then extending to those who visit our home.) I really appreciate that she says this kind of home starts with the heart. The most interesting thing was that I was reading Proverbs this morning and that is just what is talked about:

My son, forget not my law or teaching, but let your heart keep my commandments;For length of days and years of a life [worth living] and tranquility [inward and outward and continuing through old age till death], these shall they add to you. Let not mercy and kindness and truth forsake you; bind them about your neck, write them upon the tablet of your heart. Proverbs 3:1-3

So I'm endeavoring to fill my heart with God's words (that is my plan for refurbishing my heart) trusting him to fill it with His peace and believing that it will extend to my home ... and make it a more welcoming place!