Home. What's the Purpose?

Last Saturday we welcomed around 10 high school and college-aged students to our apartment for a new, twice-monthly gathering. It’s for kids who are involved in a local ministry here who want to have more consistent time hanging out with other Christians – something we like to call “fellowship” in the Christian community. Now, I think that word is overused and can be very cliché, but when it’s used to designate intentional, meaningful and purposeful time spent together, fellowship is a really good thing.

our living room (thanks to Jackson for being my model) 

I love opening up our home for people to come over. I want it to be a place that’s comfortable, welcoming and relaxing. When it comes to designing and decorating our little apartment, of course I want it to look nice, but what I really want is for people to feel like they can come on in, take their shoes off and put their feet up on our coffee table (yes! that’s allowed!).

a bit of our style

In the past two days, I’ve run across an article on the importance of Christian hospitality and a new series on the purpose of home by one of my favorite bloggers (the Nester). They’ve really had me thinking about the purpose of our home. What do I want it to be? What is it now? I don’t have all the answers, but I do think that it encompasses many of the things I listed above. Bottom line is that I want it to be a place where people share about life together. I’m excited to see how our home evolves. I want to see many more faces come through that door in the coming months (and years!?).

bookshelf full of things with great memories attached

The title of my blog points this “vision” (phew - that’s a big word!) I have for sharing life together. “May Richer Fuller Be” comes from an old hymn titled “O Love That Will Not Let Me Go,” which is a favorite of mine. I especially love this version. I want our lives to be rich (not the money kind, ha) and full - and people are a big part of making that happen.

So now the question goes to you. What do you want your home’s purpose to be?