I have to admit, I love to paint. Not pictures as such, but walls. I discover a certain satisfaction in rubbing away what is old and dirty with the steady, repetitive swish of a brush or roller. I can understand why so many people like to renovate homes. They have the opportunity to transform a space completely… to create their own little piece of heaven out of something that maybe wasn’t so heavenly.
I think some of us throw ourselves into home improvements (and many other types of improvements) so much because, deep down, we are longing for our truest, most perfect home. The one we haven’t arrived at yet. We try and pull a little piece of heaven onto the earth. We try and create ‘the ideal’ in a very non-ideal world.
I just discovered a C.S. Lewis quote which delighted me:
“The sweetest thing in all my life has been the longing – to reach the Mountain, to find the place where all the beauty came from – my country, the place where I ought to have been born. Do you think it all meant nothing, all the longing? The longing for home? For indeed it now feels not like going, but like going back.” – Psyche from Till We Have Faces.
This encapsulates for me the desire for home that I often feel. This sense of incompleteness…
And it explains why I long to create beauty here, in its various forms. Because I was created to experience it. To revel in it. To enjoy it as one who knows God intimately – the original maker of all things.
So I shall continue to rest with the longing, knowing that one day it will lead me home – “the place where all the beauty came from”. Because then it will not be the end, but truly, a glorious returning.
It's a God thing... 
When we consider the incredible beauty we see in the world around us, and the amazing attraction of our own artistry, we are overwhelmed all the more knowing that this world is fallen and wrecked by sin and the curse of man’s fall. How incomprehensible, then, is our home, “the place where all the beauty came from,” the true Land Before Time, for which our hearts ache and from which our Father sweetly beckons us to return. My passport is in hand and heart as I await His glorious call.
Thank you for the great word and word picture!
Wow, that is so beautiful Richard. Beauty and shame will continue to sit side by side until he returns. Because of Christ we can taste perfection and experience freedom from the shame/sin/guilt, but the best is certainly yet to come. So thankful for our pre-paid passports 🙂 God bless and thanks for dropping by.
I too, try to create the ‘ideal’ here on earth, even though I know better! Sometimes when my husband and I look around at all the projects we’d like to do or need to do to our house, we remind ourselves this earth is not our true home. I try to put all my decorating desires into perspective—I try! I try!
It’s always a balance isn’t it, between living our best life and enjoying all the things God gives us, and preparing our hearts for the next one. I like the verse about God giving us all things richly for us to enjoy, and we all put our hearts into different creative things… It sounds like you’ve found a God-given passion and I’m sure it’s a blessing to you, your husband and others. Thanks for dropping by Joy!
Oh I loved this, Ali! That quote . .how when we long for home then when we go it will be like going back .. .that’s a beautiful one to think upon! Thank you and God bless you as you long for home .. and make your home here as sweet as you can!
Thank you Debbie! I liked it too and had never thought of it like that before… Amen to that, thanks so much and be blessed today! 🙂
That is a great quote, Ali. I like your take on this world, our appreciation for creation and creating, and longing for the Creator and our real home.
Thank you Patti! There’s so much to enjoy now, but much, much better things to come!
So very lovely–tonight, it’s a great comfort to think of “returning”. God bless you Ali–the best truly is yet to come. sis jael-caddo
Absolutely – the celebration party awaits 🙂 thanks so much for dropping by sis.
Amen! 🙂
🙂 thanks for dropping by Amber. Hope you’re having a great week.
I can relate your sentiments here. I also like to paint (I just painted my office 2 weeks ago) because I like the place I call home to feel inviting and comfortable. I love how you compared this to our yearning for our perfect home with God.
Thanks Janna. Paint makes such a difference doesn’t it – hard work, but so satisfying. Can’t wait for the satisfaction of our true home 🙂