I don’t want to be “the king of my castle” per se. I am not a Type A, I-have-to-be-in-front, kind of guy. I do want to dominate my home but not in the way one football team dominates another.
I want people to ask my kids or my wife, “What is the dominant spirit in your home?” And they would say things like, “Love. Unconditional love. Believe me, I know, because I have done some terrible things. But I am always loved, no matter what happens. That is one thing has never changed, even for five minutes.”
Or, “Peace.”
Or, “I think the one word that best describes how I feel in my parents’ house is wanted. That’s how everyone seems to feel there, now that I think about it. Everybody has a place. There’s no us/them mentality. My parents brought in some people I might not have, and even the odd ones and the rejects felt very warmly welcomed there.”
And they would say “My husband / dad really set that tone for our home. And of course, he gets all of it from Jesus. It’s not dad’s love that dominates. It’s God’s love.” And, “My dad also loves nature, and simplicity, and his plants, like the garden and the woods. He’s earthy, if you know what I mean. He would have probably been a hippie if he was born in the right decade, so he’s whatever the modern day version of that is. Except no LSD, and a high value for scripture and intellect. It’s a free spirited kind of home. But it’s not chaos, you know. I don’t know, it’s like orderly and structured in some ways, but it still feels wild and happy. Like an English garden. Sort of. I mean, he’s not feminine, so maybe he’s like, well, being around him you feel like you would if you went to a giant, old, English mansion (although he would live much more simply – it’s just an analogy) all austere and with ornate stonework and a ten foot tall fireplace and a hundred rooms, with everything in its place, and then you went out to the gardens. It would be like magnificent and majestic and serious but also playful and warm in a way that made you want to be there and stay there. You wouldn’t feel rigid and stiff like you couldn’t touch anything. You would somehow know that he wanted you to sprawl on the couch and smack your gum. If you walked in with muddy boots and tracked it around on the floor, you never know what he might do. He might ask you to clean it up in a nice way. He might get down on his hands and knees and clean it up himself without you knowing about it. Or he might just leave it for a few days. He always said he wanted to live in a house with dirt floors.”
Free Spirit Seed Company 