Ladies, if you are like me you take an interest in your house and its decor. We arrange things, then rearrange, until they are "just so." Much that we've learned about decorating our homes might have come from our mothers or grandmothers. Perhaps you can recall a certain piece of furniture or how a room was decorated during your childhood. Picking out the paint colors or wallpaper for a room was a shared mother-daughter activity and still is today. I remember my mother's re-doing the living room. She spent what seemed to me a very long time looking for fabric to sew into drapes and slip covers. She wanted a specific color of blue, no other color would do. Finally, her search ended, and the color blue invaded our living room; but it was very pretty, and the room seemed to come alive in a whole new way.

In today's homes we often find one or two colors that set the tone for the whole house. Yes, we women think a lot about decorating. We read magazines and spend hours with wallpaper books (even bringing them home to continue looking). We watch television programs on home decorating and agonize over those tiny paint chip samples as we try to make our house into an inviting, warm, and comfortable home for our family.

A home is what I'm writing about: a home we haven't decorated, a home we haven't seen, but a home that we anticipate living in, a home we know about because Jesus has promised us He is preparing that home for us. John 14:2-3 "In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there you may be also."

This home is mentioned in the pages of the Bible. We sing hymns about this home. From the pulpit preachers talk about this home. We teach our children about this home. People use their imaginations and write about it, trying to describe what this home will be like. By now you know I'm talking about our heavenly home.

I once read a fictional story about heaven and how the story's character spent her days in heaven. I thought, "That's not what heaven will be like." The story had been created in the mind of the writer; whereas, our home in heaven is described within the pages of God's Word. We read of its beauty, its golden streets, and other words to describe heaven. We read how God will wipe away our tears (Revelation 7:17 & 21:4). There will be no pain, no sorrow, no crying in that home. Most wondrous of all, once we reach that home, we'll be with God and Christ for all eternity!

What a home that will be! 1 Corinthians 2:9: "But as it is written, 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." If we love Him we'll do what He commands, John 14:15. -Route 2 Box 177, Belington, WV 26250. mrmrsl@meer.net

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