Summer is in full swing for me as I just came back from an 18th-century upholstery class at my favorite place known as East Field Village — a community that teaches Colonial skills.

The class, though, created some stress for me as I came home with my project — a bench — and realized I had no room in my house for it. It just doesn’t seem to fit anywhere. That got me thinking about the things we accumulate in our homes and how it is so true that we can’t take it with us when all is said and done. And yet we are so attached to our things.

As I asked (and struggled) with the question, “What would be the one thing I would take with me if I could only take one thing?” I realized that true treasures are found in our hearts and that our true homes are not the ones we seek to furnish with things.

As C.S. Lewis writes, “Our true home is not a place, but a state of being.” So come, join me for a visit now on the old porch on a hot summer day here in Vermont and let’s discuss this concept of home, our possessions and what would the one thing you would take with you?

I would love to know what it would be. Comment, like and share with friends!

Here’s a question for you? Is it wrong that I just want to become a recluse? My recent work trips got me thinking how I want to retreat into the quiet and solitude of Old Stone Well Farm. And I realized, too, that I have been fearing this desire to become a blessed homebody (a better word I think than being “a recluse”).

I think the fear is that if I do give in to solitude, people will forget me when it comes to speaking engagements and writing assignments. Will how I make a living suffer? But where’s my trust in God? Isn’t it better to nurture our souls than run ourselves ragged?

We are always growing in the Spirit and, for me, each decade of my life has been marked by change. So why wrestle with letting go of who I once was and embrace the who I can be?

It’s time to enter into this new stage of quiet retreat in my life, for there really is no place like home. And so, my friends, pull up a chair and join me for visit today.

Make sure to like and comment and invite a friend, for there is room in this little 18th century home in Vermont for everyone!

Blessings!