🎶 'Hey, it's good ...'

An ode to home as a haven of rest, reflection, & renewal. And the sheer gift of meaningful conversations with our children's children.

Jun 29, 2026

Article voiceover

0:00

-5:28

Hello again! I’ve been missing you all. And yet it’s been really good to continue this summertime on again off again writing rhythm.

Late Saturday afternoon, we hauled ourselves out of the car and dragged all the accumulated gear back into the house after a truly wonderful week away at Camp up in the Adirondacks with the family. We threw open the windows wide and began sorting through the bags and piles, randomly stacking stuff on counters, table, and staircase, the menagerie of objects patiently waiting their turn to be toted to their rightful places.

Even as I got the washer spinning, I realized I was singing (most likely off key), ‘Hey, it’s good to be back home again. Sometimes this old house feels like a long lost friend. Hey, it’s good to be back home again.’

On repeat.

After awhile, I checked out the lyrics from John Denver’s 1974 multi-platinum album, Back Home Again. And found out it’s not ‘this old house’, it’s ‘this old farm’.

But the truth remains.

A huge sigh of relief comes unbidden when we turn the key in the kitchen door’s lock and return to our little home tucked between the ever-changing bay and the deep blue sea. This is the space God uses to anchor, to give us a sense of place, an offering of restorative rest and reset.

As we’ve settled in again, we’ve been comparing notes, too many to count, newly minted memories, that are now finding a cherished place to lodge somewhere deep inside. Like this one here, a grandfather who shall remain nameless doing handsprings and flips on the sandy beach that he had no business doing, refusing to say no to a granddaughter’s dare.

But the real gems are those unplanned 1-1 moments, the unexpected walks and unpredictable talks. The kind that continue to build layer upon layer of trust with our children’s children as they shift slowly but surely into adulthood.

These cherished encounters invite us to listen well. To avoid pat answers. To keep on learning. And at this juncture of life? I see these as sacred opportunities to simply spend time in each other’s company. Sheer gift because who knows when we’ll be together again?

God knows our reality in this season of life. And it’s a hard, yet necessary place to be. We gift our next generation wings to fly, don’t we. We keep on releasing them, over and over again, into His kind yet powerful keeping.

Meanwhile, we’ll be here catching our breath for a few weeks before we pack up and head out for another jaunt. And we’ll repeat these come-and-go rhythms well into September, God willing.

So right now, I’m relishing the peace and quiet stillness that defines our life in this place. For this is where we refill and refuel. This is where we process life and love and loss and hope.

I know what I need to do to re-emerge into the present and to do it well. This practice of routinely embracing solitude and silence in order to process life’s intracacies is one that will forever be my heartbeat.

Proverbs 14:1 reminds us that ‘The wise woman builds her house.’ And through all those decades of marriage and mothering, the homekeeping and friendship nurturing, the ministry leadership and counseling and caring for my mom and all the things, it’s in this home space, whatever four walls we are living in, that God renews my strength - physically, emotionally, spiritually.

The work God does in this place restores our souls as the Psalmist wrote in the 23rd chapter. Not so we can be happy or content, but so we can find the deepest rest that equips us to head out the door to wherever He’s called us to next, to do what He has for us to do.

With a focused energy and purpose.

Deepest gratitude.

And a steady joy that sometimes makes absolutely no sense at all.

So yes, it’s so very good to be home again. It’s His grace, His kindness that leads us back to these four walls.
Linda