House-builders at Heart

DAILY BYTE

One of the fantastic things about having young children is the cast-iron excuse it provides for doing ‘little kid’ things yourself. One of my personal favourites is when we get to spend a lazy Saturday morning together building houses out of blankets and duvets and pillows in the lounge. I’m sure you know the routine. Lounge furniture gets pushed around. A draped blanket over two couches becomes a roof. Duvets become walls. Pillows become padded floors. And before you know it you’ve got just enough of a darkened cave that you can all squeeze into, which feels like a palace fit for a king.

Because when you’re huddled up with your kids around a communal cup of tea with dunking rusks in your hand, in a house that you’ve built together, truly you are on holy ground.

I’m convinced that kids love to build blanket and duvet houses not just because it’s a fun thing to do. But also because rooted deep within all of us as people there is need for the security of a safe space. There is need for a sanctuary where we can belong.

According to Maslowe’s famous hierarchy of needs, the need for shelter is one of our most fundamental human requirements. So maybe what gets played out in my lounge on certain Saturday mornings is an expression of a deep yearning that we all share as human beings.

Could it be that all of us, whether we’re young or old, whether we’re consciously aware of it or not, could it be that all of us, by virtue of being human, are house-builders at heart?

That’s the theme that we’ll be exploring this week in The Barking Dog-Collar, as we think about the deep need for sanctuary that is within all of us, and the yearning that is ours to build something meaningful with our lives.

PRAY AS YOU GO

Gracious God, there is this deep yearning within me for a safe place where I can find shelter and sanctuary. Thank you that in you this deep yearning is met and fully satisfied. Help me to trust that. And help me to partner you in playing my part to ensure that others might find such places of shelter and sanctuary in their lives also. Amen.

SCRIPTURE READING

Psalm 91:1

You who live in the shelter of the Most High,
who abide in the shadow of the Almighty,
will say to the LORD, “My refuge and my fortress;
my God, in whom I trust.”