Little House(s) On The Prairie

I think I was born nostalgic! When I have time to sit and think, the feelings deepen. The addresses above, in order, are:
1012 Kiplinger
Delaware Avenue (the house was on the edge of city limits with no number)
809 East Avenue
927 York Avenue
Unless you ever lived in York, Nebraska, those streets and avenues have little meaning to you. But sometimes, a small town is a pretty big universe! This is from July 29, 2009.

Summers were great when I was a boy. I loved school but there was so much to do in June-July-August. As I get older, the memories probably improve but that's okay. Above are the four houses we occupied in York, Nebraska, chronologically from first to last. As far as I can tell, the pictures were taken in roughly the time frames we lived in them. If I ever penned an autobiography, it would follow the flow that came from the progression of where we lived. Each house represented a stage of development in my life and the life of our family. One thing is missing from the photographs- people. A house can't be a home without occupants. Otherwise, it's no different than a body without a spirit. I watched our family grow in these locations and they watched me. I witnessed love and joy constantly. I saw anguish when Mom miscarried. I observed aging firsthand when Grandpa Hawley came to live with us when Grandma Hawley died. Little did I know that history would, as it inevitably does, repeat itself as we watched the decline of the parents who gave us life. My family always moved on but the houses remained.

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus tells us that if we seek his kingdom first, all our physical needs will be taken care of. Those houses above? That's the Savior keeping his promise. Many more families and children have slept within those walls in the intervening years but none could have loved them any more than I did...and do. Israel's great psalmist, David had been plucked from the sheep pastures and anointed into royalty. As a warrior king, he was constantly in battle and fighting for survival. One day, while warring with the Philistines, he expressed his longing for just a drink of water from the well in his village of Bethlehem. It seems he missed his youth and he missed his home. Maybe we aren't so different from David. We all have our wells; it's just that not all of them hold water.

Applicable quote of the day:

"It always amazes me to think that every house on every street is full of so many stories; so many triumphs and tragedies, and all we see are yards and driveways.”
Glenn Close

God bless,
Steve
Luke 18:1

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E-mail me at steve@hawleybooks.com