House on the Hill

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It’s been a year now since the big move. Up and off the farm we did go after living upon the family homestead for over 40 years. We’d never really gone house shopping before, so when this all began, we decided to make a wishlist of sorts to sort it all out. At least that would be a starting point. Today, I found that list tucked away in the bottom of my purse and began to check off that which was granted. I was amazed that 100% of the wishes I wished for were granted.

  • Three bedrooms—didn’t think that was too much as we have a pile of kiddos and grands.
  • Cathedral ceiling—we liked our old one and thought it would make it feel like home.
  • Knotty pine—cabin cozy is always our trademark.
  • Lots of light—light illuminates and thus, always the light.
  • Big kitchen island—didn’t have this in the old so we wanted one in the new.
  • Front porch—our farm porch made the inside feel more connected to the outside.
  • Fireplace—it adds warmth to cozy.
  • Solid pantry shelving—we didn’t want anything falling through cracks of metal racks.

My hope is in him, not our stuff. Yet, he goes to prepare a place for us according to John 14:3. “And if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you with me that you also may be where I am.” As I look at our earthly home wishlist, I noted some similarities of things I’d like in a heavenly home.

  • Many rooms for many people.
  • Cathedral ceiling—placed in a heavenly space where lots of praise and worship will flow.
  • Lots of light reflected by the light of the world.
  • Front porch leading to his gates as we enter in.
  • Pining away with the thought that the precious undoer of all knots in our lives will represent anew what the Almighty did do, will do and is doing.
  • Places of warmth all cozy as he goes to prepare a place for us.

And the best part? This new home has already been purchased. “Christ bought us with his blood … because of the price Christ Jesus paid…” (Gal. 3:13-15). It’s paid in full!

The room he’s gone to prepare as spoken about in John 14:3 is worthy of ponder. Thus, I do—and I wonder. Who will be my neighbor? Will it be the very one I didn’t want to get too close to this side of the veil? Maybe my neighbor will be the beggar I passed by on the street as they prayed for me to stop and give a morsel or two in their hour of need.

And because we confess that we do indeed fall short, he goes to prepare a place with things not even written on our wishlist. The mystery surpasses all understanding. His grace and mercy abound as I confess ways I have fallen. And it’s precisely while I was yet a sinner that he died for me says Romans 5:8. Last I heard, only sinners get in—those who confess they are. I qualify. And as we grow into the knowledge of how he demonstrates his love for each of us—may we, like he, begin to lavish it upon others as he continues to prepare a place just for us. Amen.

Kathleen Kjolhaug, Theology in the Trenches

Photo: The monastery guest house in 1958.