Loving Your Right Now: Every Home is a “Forever Home”

I’m 26 and I don’t have a driver’s license. Sometimes if I’m extra sweet (and do lots of begging), my husband still let’s me take the car, granted I don’t go far.

So, I recently started going to this gorgeous nature park on a river, up the road from our house. Lots of wealthy people have gorgeous waterfront properties there, right up to the bank. Their yachts are moored on their personal docks. A county marina is only a bit further down the river, full of even more boats and yachts.

When i go to this park, I get a sense of being at a club, but not in it. You know? Don’t get me wrong, the people are kind, down to earth, and this is a public space maintained by the state. But to think, these people are in their kayaks, at the café on the water, or walking their dogs at a leisurely pace on a monday morning while the rest of the world is fighting traffic….

I start wondering how much money they must have. What they’re doing after this. If they’re retired, or which McMansion belongs to them.

Then, I feel reminded by the Holy Spirit… I am one of them.

No, I don’t have a house on the river, or a yacht. No Roth IRA or offshore account. No maids or vacation home in Florida. I’m not like them in that way. But when I sit and think about it long enough, I recognize and accept, I too am enjoying leisure on the water on a Monday morning, when I could be fighting traffic.

From 2021 to 2023, I didn’t need to drive to a nature park to get this experience– the property we lived on meant this was our backyard. It was gorgeous. I lived in the kind of place that made people pull over and get out of their cars. Sparkling water, singing ducks, beautiful community landscaping. Almost every day i was out at that water, breathing in and out, watching the turtles and schools of fish, Journaling, or praying. It was my own slice of heaven.

Until my husband lost his job and we could suddenly no longer afford to stay. Devastation does not cover my then feelings. I wasn’t losing a lifestyle, I was losing my home.

We ended up in his parents basement. Gorgeous house, on a historic river, in a quiet rural neighborhood tucked away from everything. But it wasn’t ours. It wasn’t my Richmond. I spent a lot of that time (2023- end of 2024) praying, imagining, and daydreaming about my new home.

Now that I’m here, I find it hard to slow down and breathe in the air around me. Sometimes I’m always thinking about our first home. It was perfect. I was one of the people in the club. Now I’m not.

I sound shallow don’t I? I know I do. But who doesn’t want the best for themselves and their families? I wrote about this a lot in Tiny Home, Big Living : we’ve had such great lifestyle ups and downs over the past few years, I can hardly get comfortable with the thought of getting comfortable.

Sometimes I find myself afraid to acquire “things” in fear that I may lose them while moving. My closet consists of about 5 outfits that I rotate weekly. My computer is a potato. I have virtually no decor, no framed photos of my family, no real personalization anywhere in our home. And I won’t lie, it makes me feel like an inadequate homemaker.

Most homemakers I know our have seen online, take such great pride in their homes that they decorate. If not with bespoke or eclectic furniture, then at least with DIY Dollar Tree projects or Amazon finds.

And then there’s me: so forcefully detached with the idea of “owning” or “permanence”, that I can only bring myself to walk slowly and admiringly through home decor stores, right before leaving without purchasing. Every single decorative item in our home was either a gift, or something my husband saw and liked while shopping together. Save for a single authentic, hand-painted porcelain ginger jar that I’d found at GoodWill in 2021, I haven’t bought a single thing.

Does that make me less feminine? I feel like my home is just so bare bones. Sure,  wet invest in exotic fragrances and incense; i use faux flowers here and there; and we keep a gorgeous menorah on the kitchen island bar as a sort of centerpiece. But i feel like a lot of… me is missing.

At the old home on the water, I didn’t need to decorate much: the views did all the talking. But now, I don’t do anything. And I feel like, even if it’s bad or ugly, every woman seems to take pride in their home in some way. Even if i went the kitschy direction with those “Live, Laugh, Love” wall decals, or porcelain rooster figurines everywhere, at least it would feel like home.

Most of my excuse is “This is not my home. I just live here.” I might even scapegoat a feigned air of minimalism. Have you ever felt like that?

You say it’s minimalism when it’s really either disinterest, lack of budget for decor, feeling creatively overwhelmed by all the options that you just can’t settle on one thing or style, and end up doing nothing.

I feel like it’s the second thing people notice when they enter my home (the first thing is the wonderful smells from the middle eastern incense we use 🥰). But I hope its a reflection of my priorities: people over things, comfort over aesthetics. I never want to have the kind of home where people walk in and feel like it’s so perfect they can’t sit down. I want my home energy to say lay down and put your worries away.

But does that mean I couldn’t be a bit more intentional about pops of color here, or a seasonal accent there? I know I d0nt own this place as a renter, but… I do live here, and probably will for another year. I’ve got to love my “right now”.

I know I’m not alone. Even people who buy homes tend to not decorate or make any meaningful changes because it’s not their forever home or they’re afraid to alter the “resale value”, as if it’s some car and not their literal place of dwelling and fellowship.

Decorating is not the only way to love your right now home, though. You show your home love by keeping it clean and airy. You love your home with your joy and singing. Your love for your home shines forth when you have a good attitude about it, never compare it, and take care of what Yahuah has given you!

So what if it’s not like Sally Sue’s, or even if it’s not like a home you’ve had in the past? There is space and purpose in enjoying what is in front of you, whether renting or owning, as a homemaker who’s called to slow down and be present.

Getting out into nature more over the last couple weeks has definitely reminded me of that. My dream is to own a piece of a river or lake one day, like we used to. But even if that’s not my current reality, I can still enjoy the beauty all around me. I can, and will, lift my eyes to the hills and invest in purpose, not vanity.

I didn’t live the old home because it was perfect or even because it was everything I ever wanted. I loved it because there was quietude, beauty, and community right outside my door. I’m realizing now, right months after moving into a new home, that that home can still exist with me, right where I am…

I will love my right now and remember, it’s not about what we own, it’s how we use it to exalt the Lord.

[14] “For the kingdom of heaven is like a man traveling to a far country, who called his own servants and delivered his goods to them. [15] And to one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, to each according to his own ability; and immediately he went on a journey. [16] Then he who had received the five talents went and traded with them, and made another five talents. [17] And likewise he who had received two gained two more also. [18] But he who had received one went and dug in the ground, and hid his lord’s money. [19] After a long time the lord of those servants came and settled accounts with them. [20] “So he who had received five talents came and brought five other talents, saying, ‘Lord, you delivered to me five talents; look, I have gained five more talents besides them.’ [21] His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’ [22] He also who had received two talents came and said, ‘Lord, you delivered to me two talents; look, I have gained two more talents besides them.’ [23] His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’ [24] “Then he who had received the one talent came and said, ‘Lord, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you have not sown, and gathering where you have not scattered seed. [25] And I was afraid, and went and hid your talent in the ground. Look, there you have what is yours.’ [26] “But his lord answered and said to him, ‘You wicked and lazy servant, you knew that I reap where I have not sown, and gather where I have not scattered seed. [27] So you ought to have deposited my money with the bankers, and at my coming I would have received back my own with interest. [28] Therefore take the talent from him, and give it to him who has ten talents. [29] ‘For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away. [30] And cast the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

Matthew 25:14-30 NKJV

What do you love about your home? How can you love it more?