Your Life Up Close — The Power of Home
How homes cultivate the context for true connection in our lives.
I ninja-kicked the air and yelled, “GUYS, I’M HOME!”
I laughed as I yelled it, and the door banged shut behind me. My roommate stepped out into the hallway and cocked her head at me mouthing, “SHE’S ASLEEP!”, as she pointed to our other roommate’s bedroom.
I came in so full of steam after the first day of class only to wake up my roommate from her nap (facepalm).
I guess you could say I know something about making an entrance into a home.
That might be surprising considering this is my first semester of college not in the dorm. Every day I make coffee in our little kitchen or feel the warm sunshine in the living room, I’m grateful for the house I now share with two roommates. Maybe it’s the dorm gave me an appreciation for normal sized spaces, or maybe it’s that I just love homes. Either way, this semester has shown me the simple power of home.
What Does Home Mean?
When I talk about home, I’m not really talking about an actual house. It could be a high rise apartment or a trailer or a rent house. What I actually mean is that “home” is where your life happens.
It’s where you do laundry, make decisions, finish homework assignments, take out the trash and drink coffee as you read on the couch in the morning. It’s where no makeup is more often than not and funny things like drinking out of the carton and channeling your inner Adele in the shower occur. It’s pretty ordinary, really.
Even so, home is where real life happens.
Sometimes we go to homes when someone hosts a baby shower or a dinner party, and those are valuable things. But, when someone invites you into their home when there is no event, nothing prepared, and the only thing left for dinner is Frosted Flakes, it’s something different. When someone invites you into that, they’re actually inviting you into their real life.
The Power of Home
I often think people would much rather come into a vacuumed living room and immaculate kitchen than into the “I-unloaded-my-entire-backpack-on-the-floor” situation, but it’s actually the opposite. The power of home is that it’s real, not that it’s perfect.
I’ve found that where there is space for real life, there is fuel for true connection.
It’s in homes that I’ve connected most meaningfully with people. Doing dishes alongside someone can be more life-giving than small groups sometimes. Being invited into the chaos of getting all the kids a bath before bed can show more love than a Sunday service sometimes. That’s not to say those things are not valuable. It’s just to say that sometimes, the spaces that ministry and encouragement occur in are much more ordinary than we often think.
This semester, I’ve been graciously invited into the home of a family in my local church. On Sunday evenings, I show up for an hour or so and hang out with the family. There’s no agenda being followed, it’s just conversation and life and the occasional game of Uno. It may seem simple, but it’s been one of the most life-giving and encouraging parts of this semester.
I’ve found that seeing people up close is a chance to see Jesus working up close, and that has happened in the context of a home so many times in my life.
It’s Worth It
Inviting people into our homes and lives sounds amazing, right? I have to tell you though, it’s kind of risky and often inconvenient. When we invite others in, people get to see our true selves, minus the filters. They get to see our frustration, our gritty faith, our fears, joys and anxious moments. They see that we don’t have it all together. They see that our lives aren’t this constant stream of fun things that our social media timelines can make them out to be.
But guess what? It’s worth it. It’s worth it because as followers of Jesus, we’re called to invite others in, just as Jesus has invited us into His life. It allows people to see how following Jesus affects our daily life, not just our Sunday mornings.
So if you think that you need a stage or microphone to do ministry, let me tell you that all you need is an open front door.
I encourage you to think about how you can invite people to actually do life with you. Maybe it’s dinners or homework sessions or conversations as you clean the garage. Perhaps it’s inviting someone along for your grocery run or meal prep. Regardless, when we make space for life up close with others, we make space for others to see Jesus working up close in us. And that is powerful.
To all the people who’ve invited me into their lives and their homes over the years — thank you, it’s encouraged me so much. And to the people on the other side of my door — it’s open. Come on inside, preferably ninja-kicking as you do.
-Rachel
Thank you for reading!
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