Hi Honey, I'm Home!

“Hi Honey, I’m home,” may seem to be an antiquated greeting from the classic 1950’s show, “Leave it to Beaver.” Perhaps, it is more relevant and rich than you may think. Let’s dust off the salutation, and give it a second thought.

What is a home anyway? These days there are many types of homes, some trendy, and some timeless. There are tiny homes, mobile homes, mansions, old homes, new homes, second homes, vacation homes, rental homes, homes in trees, and homes for dolls, grandma’s home, and of course our eternal home. What is the most important (earthly) home of all, and did you even realize it was a home?

Houses are just brick and mortar until we move in, with sentiment in tow, and make each worthy of the title, “home.” A house is different than a home, after all. After a long trip away, or at the end of another busy day, what feelings come to mind when you pull up to your home? Your heart probably carries emotions like warm, familiar, comfortable, and restorative.

When Ward Cleaver came home from work, what was he really coming home “to”? Was it some walls, a bathroom, bedrooms, and a kitchen? This husband was coming home to June, his wife, and the mother of his children. How much stronger are the feelings evoked by a wife and mother than brick and mortar? Many of the same descriptions above can and do define this special lady.

Certainly, a woman manifests herself in the home. A wise woman builds her home (Proverbs 14:1). Her fingerprints are apparent through the design choices, décor, the smells that abound, the foods she cooks, the table she sets, and the children she bears and cares for (tirelessly). An outpouring of love fills the home. “She looks well to the ways of her household” (Proverbs 31:27). A home reflects a woman’s touch, but still, it is not the most important home for the family. A woman doesn’t just “make a home,” she is the home.

At some point in time, the woman’s body harbors every person in the family: her husband and each of her children dwell within her for a time. Indeed, she is the intimate heart of the family. “Her children rise up and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her” (Proverbs 31:28). For each woman, it is a privilege and a profound vocation to have the ability to make and be a home. One is always home when embraced in the arms of a loving woman, wife and mother.

May Our Lady, the Ark, mentor ladies and direct each man to his wife, as she shelters us in her mantle and guides us in this life, leading us to the next. We can hope for a home, become a home, and are home in and through her.