The Home Place

By

Pamela Perry Blaine

?© January 2005

It was a long time ago, yet it really happened.  There was a place in time where people lived, worked, and played just like we do today.  Oh, they may have dressed differently, had different modes of transportation, and a slower pace of life, but like us they had many of the same hopes and dreams.  We discover many of them as we search for our ???home place???.

Some of these home places began when a man bought a small plat of ground to work.  He took a team of horses, some tools, and brought his new bride to the house he had built with his own two hands.

In time, the farm or ranch would grow and expand. There would be a large barn and other outbuildings to hold the increase of the land.  A room or two would sometimes be added on to the house to handle a growing family.  The house became a refuge or sanctuary to the family. It was a place of shelter from the cold and the rigors of life and a place to find love and acceptance.  It became ???the home place???.

Life was often difficult and families coped with hard times as best they could. It was a time when losing loved ones was common.  Many babies, children, and the elderly succumbed to illnesses that are preventable in today??™s world.  There were hard times with suffering and even the loss of life from accidents and disease.

These were the steadfast people from which many of us descended.  We look through family photographs, visit cemeteries, shuffle through boxes in attics, and visit genealogy sites on the Internet in search of our home place. 

Some people search to trace their lineage, thinking that perhaps they might find a link to someone of great importance, even royalty, so they themselves might feel a tie to their home place. Others do it out of curiosity or to actually find someone that they feel they have lost connection with because of situations such as adoption or divorce.  At any rate, there is something within us that often wants to know about our beginnings as we search for our home place.  It brings us perhaps a sense of security in belonging to something greater than ourselves.  We find that there is more than just the here and now as we find ourselves a part of something much larger.  We discover family that we are linked with even though they are no longer on the earth.

For some people the search for home doesn??™t take them far at all, while others search long and hard.  Perhaps the search for our home place is a desire that God created in our hearts, a longing for more than what we can grasp or see with our human eyes.

Like me, you might find many home places.  There is the home place where I grew up that I often drive past, ever so slowly, and for a moment I remember the carefree days of my childhood.  I have also found the home place of my father and that of my husband??™s father. The houses no longer exist but there are pictures of them. I can show you the pictures of all of these and perhaps you have a picture of your home place too.  Yet, the search for our home place continues, and we are still unsatisfied, for there is a home place that is not of this world. 

I believe Jesus spoke of the ultimate home place when He said,

 "In my Father's house are many mansions". 

???Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.???

(1 Corinthians 2:9)

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                `?·-?»Pamy
 
"Security is not the absence of danger,
but the presence of God"
 
My husband and I live in Missouri.  We have 4 children
and 5 grandchildren.  I enjoy writing, music, and country living. 
I write "Pam's Corner" for the local newspaper and many stories have been published on the internet as well as in several books.
I have loved music and writing ever since I can remember. I play piano at church and I'm an avid reader. One of my goals is to be able to write for my children and grandchildren so special memories will not be forgotten.  We have recently made a new CD entitled "I'll Walk You Home".  If you would like one, they are available by freewill donation.  More information as well as a clip from the CD is on the website at:  http://blaines.us/PamyPlace.htm
e-mail: pamyblaine@blaines.us
 

"NO ONE IS USELESS IN THIS WORLD
 WHO LIGHTENS THE BURDEN OF ANYONE ELSE"

http://www.greatcom.org/laws/englishkgp/default.htm