An elderly friend of mine shared with me her affection for this country song “Little Houses” written by Doug Stone. The chorus goes like this:

But you know, love grows best in little houses,
With fewer walls to separate,
Where you eat and sleep so close together.
You can’t help but communicate,
Oh, and if we had more room between us, think of all we’d miss.
Love grows best, in houses just like this.

My friend and I watched the music video together on one of my visits and I have never forgotten the image of people growing close together in less than roomy circumstances. I am finding that in my life, though those close places are not always the most comfortable, I do see love really growing in a way it otherwise would not be, or at least not as steadily.

In our American fast paced society it is easy to join the multitudes who seem to constantly hold people at arms length by making ourselves busy and spreading ourselves out. We tend to keep our personal space free of outsiders and strangers. We come up with all sorts of excuses not to get too close, too intimate. I think we don’t like to be close because when we are face to face with each other we have to deal with one another and with ourselves.

I have definitely seen this in myself. When Matt and I became husband and wife I soon discovered that my “little house” felt claustrophobic at times! It is in those small places that the real me shows up — the good, bad, and the ugly. There is no where to run and no way to hide.

I am learning to appreciate the smallness of my “houses”. Sure I don’t like confrontation, can’t stand all the junk that surfaces to be sharpened and honed by my spouse and my comrades but do I really want to leave all that stuff hidden? Why not let it come out of the shadows and into the light where it can be delt with. Isn’t this what love is all about? We not only love others but we must let others love us by bearing with one another and encouraging one another.

Recently Matt and I have been considering the schooling options for our children and again I felt a tug in my heart about this particular “house”. I have been attempting to homeschool our children ages 2 – 6 years. Just let me say that our little house in northeast rural Missouri sometimes feels a bit cramped with four young kids and a medium sized house dog. The volume, if not the roof of our victorian aged fixer upper, definitely gets raised at times.

I struggle with being with my kids day in and day out, it would be easy to give in to the desire to “get them out of my hair” by putting them on a bus to be taken care of by someone else for the day. But do I really need them “out of my hair”? Like the song says, what wonderful and not so wonderful times would I miss? Do I really want someone else to be the sharpening stone right now in thier lives? What about me, there is definitely no sharper edge than the eyes of a child whether they cut like ice or melt me into puddles. We may or may not decide to send our kids to public school in the future, but as I ask God for His heart in the matter I want to keep in mind that although things can feel a bit too close for comfort at times I believe that love does grow in little houses.

Thanks for reading, I have no idea how often or how long my posting will be, I am just glad I finally got something up! Be blessed in your “little houses”.