When we look at the meanings of the words house and home the dictionary tells us they are basically the same. But for many of us these two words stir up different emotions. House is sort of a dull word to describe a place where someone lives or keeps his stuff. A home is much more than this: it is where our family is. The word home makes us feel warm inside, brings back memories. As they say, home is where the heart is. It just does not sound right if you say house is where the heart is. Home is a word that is full of emotion.
I think it would be nice if we had other words that have this sort of dynamic. We could have two words for work. One word for work could be the building we work at, and the other could be the place where we work on our passions and life goals. We could tell by the way people talked about their place of work if it really meant something to them.
Another word that would be interesting to look at would be church. Do we see a church as a beautiful building that we go to every week or is it a home? When we go to church do we have a sense of wonder and awe? Every church is said to be a house of God, but do we believe that is it our home?
Giovanni Vitale II
Outreach Coordinator
The PIME Missionaries USA 