Try to make your house a ‘home’

I am not proficient with the English language. My skill in the use of certain words is very limited. Parts of speech have always gave me a problem. And there are other rules in the word usage in the language that cause problems for me.

Anyway I saw an article in the Southern Standard that challenge my thinking a little bit. The article had to do with the housing project on top of Harrison Ferry Mountain. The article made claim that ‘homes’ are being built up there. As I read the article, I could not get the question out of my head, what are they really doing up there, building ‘homes’ or ‘houses’?

I know that often we humans ‘strain at a gnat and swallow a camel.’ However, can one actually build a home with hammers, nails, wood, brick, block and cement? Or can a house be built with love, peace, joy and long suffering?

Before I began this article I checked a dictionary for the definition of these two words. Of course. I wasn’t at all surprised to find both words carried many of the same definitions. Since definitions of words seemingly follow how words are used by the general public. To a lot of people, the words are interchangeable. But can we be sure as to what someone is talking about when he uses the word home? It seems so strange to me to see a realtor’s sign in a yard that says: Home For Sale. If a home could be bought or sold what would be the asking price?

How often have individuals driven by a place of residence and made the statement: ‘What a beautiful home’? Can they be sure there is a beautiful home there when all they see is the house?

I would like to give you a personal example of the difference between a beautiful house and a beautiful home.

At age ten, I lost my mother. After her death I spent a lot of time with a first cousin and her family in the Bethany community. They lived in a very old house. Holes in the floor and walls. Rocks wears the house’s foundation. From this limited description most people would get the idea that this wasn’t a very pretty home. How wrong can one be? I had rather been there then anyplace, and I guess I made a real pest of myself for being there so much.

We live in a time when it takes a lot to make one happy. If we would only be honest with ourselves most of us have more than we deserve. Many times we want something because someone else has one. I have seen more happiness in a family that had seemingly nothing than one who appears to live in a mansion.

It takes a lot of living to make a house a home.