Every now and then. I think about how life can be measured by different things, and recently, I have been measuring my life by the homes I have lived in.

We are just a few weeks away from saying goodbye to a house that has been a good home for our family, and moving into a new building that I hope will quickly take on the characteristics of home.

Over the years, we have had several homes. Some have been houses that we simply lived in for a time. Others have developed that special quality that makes the building into something special. Some have become home.

I suspect that there is a lot more to this than just the physical buildings that we live in, those special qualities that make it meaningful. I suspect that it has to do as much with the community, and the friendships that we have developed, and the relationships between our own family members as we have lived, laughed and loved together inside these walls. Those are the things that make a building something special in our lives.

For instance, this is the building where my youngest daughter took her first steps, where my boys lost their teeth, where my daughters introduced their first boyfriends to their mother and me. This is a place where I can see the ghostly memories of small children digging holes in the back yard, of older children riding bikes, of sitting around a campfire or swinging on the playset.

I can see my kids praying around the table before beginning the day, where my kids taught me as much about prayer as I have taught them. I can see my kids helping dig out the Christmas decorations, and hear the laughter as the tree went up, and see the wonder on their faces as the lights were lit.

I can envision the times we sat around the dining room table with close friends, and even closer family, playing cards, chatting, laughing. I can replay times when we faced tough decisions, and remember where the tears fell.

There are so many memories that are vivid and poignant in my mind as we begin to load stuff into boxes, and get ready to find a new place to put this bookshelf or that table, in a strange building, one that we do not know, that isn’t as worn in and comfortable as this one is.

Are there things about this house that I don’t enjoy? Of course there are. There always are. But there are so many good things that outweigh those, that I can’t really even think of what they are anymore.

Soon, this house will belong to someone new. And my prayer is that God blesses that family in this house as much as he has blessed mine while we have lived here. I hope they draw closer together as a family, and that this house provides them with as many incredible memories as we have gathered while living here.

We have loved this home for the last few years. And we have grown to love each other more deeply as a family during that time. And while we will miss that, I know that there is something great in store for us at the next stop. That house will soon take on the characteristics of a home. It may be the home that holds new and unexpected memories for us as we move ahead, and I’m excited about seeing what those memories might be. Some will be great. Others might not be so great. But through them all, I know God will be working in our lives, and that new house will bear witness to that fact.

So for however long it may be, we will soon have a new building to call home, to mark the measurement of the next phase of my family’s life.

Sometimes life can be measured by the homes we have lived in.

Question: Does your home hold special memories of your life and the life of your family? How does your home impact your life? You can leave a comment by clicking here.