This week I was studying the first recorded miracle of Jesus, performed at the wedding at Cana. I read some interesting and challenging words of William Barclay about this incident in his commentary on the Gospel of John.“There is a strange paradox in the attitude of many people to the place they call home. They would admit at once that there is no more precious place in all the world; and yet, at the same time, they would also have to admit that in it they claim the right to be far more discourteous, far moor boorish, far more selfish, far more impolite than they would dare to be in any society of strangers. Many of us treat the ones we love most in a way that we would never dare to treat a chance acquaintance. So often it is strangers who see us at our best and those who live with us who see us at our worst. We ought ever to remember that it was in a humble home that Jesus manifested forth his glory. To him home was a place for which nothing but his best was good enough.”
Even the kindest and happiest of us have our challenges at home. I remember the words of Wilbur, one on my Portuguese language teachers when I lived in Brazil. We American students were talking about how gracious and outgoing were the Brazilian men. They were so expressive and friendly in public. With a very somber face Wilbur commented, “But at home it is a different story.”
With regret I must admit that far too many times I have confused the opportunity to be comfortable at home with some perceived right to be a slob or jerk or some worse descriptive term.
I got the message more clearly one day when I got home and noticed that my wife had added a new bottle to the row of nutritional supplements I take every day. The bottle had my name on it and was labeled “Sweet Pills” with the instructions to "take all day." The only other words were “LARGE size (for obvious reasons).”
God, help me, and all who read these words, to give the best of our love to the ones we love the most ... to have a HOME SWEET HOME.
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