Have you ever experienced an ache within you for something more? Perhaps you seek comfort, or a place to belong in this very broken world. We all have within us a longing for home and this longing does not end with the here and now but is fulfilled in the hope of heaven. Keeping Place: Reflections on the Meaning of Home helps us understand how to live as we long for our eternal home. 

About the book

Jen Pollock Michel describes our earthly home as well as our heavenly home with beautiful imagery and well thought out biblical illustrations. She captures the heart of home by letting her readers enter into her own personal wanderings. Jen who is originally from America, describes her longing for home through the upheaval of traveling to a new and foreign land when her family moved to Toronto, Canada. She expertly parallels her own journey with the lessons we can learn from the Israelites loss of home in the Old Testament and God’s role in providing for their needs. Jen brings her readers along as she goes back to her hometown to try to piece together who her deceased father was in an attempt to grieve what was lost and understand what home was for her as a child. Through this, Jen helps the reader understand that home does not always have warm, fuzzy emotions connected to it. She normalizes the fact that there will always be grief and pain within the walls of our homes due to sin and the broken world that we live in. 

This book does an excellent job of unpacking what homemaking is and the negative connotations that come with identifying as a homemaker. Jen combats the lies that history has told us about the role of women in the home with insightful thoughts on the homemaking role of God the Father. I was personally spurred on to use my home for His glory and purpose after reading this book. 

If you find that you are wandering through life looking for home – looking for more – this is a wonderful book to read! I recommend this book to anyone who is in the midst of moving house, dealing with loss, or wanting to use their home more purposefully.

A QUOTE AND A QUESTION

“The biblical narrative begins and ends at home. From the Garden of Eden to the New Jerusalem we are hardwired for place and for permanence, for rest and refuge, for presence and protection. We long for home because welcome was our first gift of grace and it will be our last.” pg. 33

• How does your understanding and longing for home influence your worldview?