Years ago I had a re-modeler over to discuss vinyl siding my house. When he stopped by, he told me that he’d driven by my house many times and that the picturesque layout got him to thinking that whoever lived there, had a little piece of heaven. I never thought much about what he had said, mainly because I thought it was probably just a sales ploy to get me to hire him. But as the years went by, I indeed did realize that I had a nice chunk of heaven where I lived. Pond, woods, nice home and a nice vantage point to view it all. I felt happy and fortunate to have it. But as more time went by, I realized that what I really had was actually a very small postage stamp sized part of the world. Miniscule in scale within the vastness of the world. Many people have nicer homes and even mansions, but they too, I thought, only had postage sized pieces of the world.
I knew of a local self-made billionaire who had owned one of the largest credit card companies in the world and also owned the Cleveland Browns football team. Pretty close to where I lived he built the grandest home I’d ever seen. I’d drive by it daily and even though most of it was shielded by 100 foot trees that were actually shipped in and planted that tall, I still could get a slight glimpses of the vast mansion. I’m sure many people thought that he certainly had a piece of heaven too.
That billionaire developed brain cancer and died at a relatively young age. He had all the money in the world, access to the best health care and hospitals in the world but he died just like everyone else on this globe will do.
As more years went by I realized that people in smaller or less opulent homes than the billionaires, or mine for that matter, can and do have their own pieces of heaven. After all, no matter how big a home may be, it is but a postage sized piece of house in the enormity of the world. And size, trees, ponds, lakes, marble and the like have but very little of what it takes to truly make a home a little piece of heaven. Sure the setting, materials and other pleasing parts of a home may bring us to ponder the beauty and calm it bestows, but truly, that alone does not make it a piece of heaven.
People who live in small apartments or literal shacks and even homes with thatched roofs can and do have little pieces of heaven right at their fingertips. It has to do with how and what the occupants think about, get involved in, what they’re passions and dreams are about and the love and peace that they feel inside their homes. Living in a little piece of heaven has little to do with size, beauty and opulence.
Homes, whether big or small shelter us from cold, rain, snow, wind and the harsh elements of life. It affords us the ability to rejuvenate and appreciate the calm of our little piece of heaven. I look differently at homes nowadays. I understand what really makes a home a piece of heaven.
Whether your home is tiny, long as a city-block or somewhere in between or whether it’s stunning or plain and simple, I hope it’s your little postage sized piece of heaven, right here on earth.
Steve's a three-time survivor of violence in his youth, a former police supervisor and a graduate of The Police Executive Leadership College (PELC) and was also an award winning part-time college Criminal Justice instructor.
For several years, Steve did written and radio political and current event commentary and was the former host of the long running 'The Kovacs Perspective' Internet radio and TV talk show.
Steve presently owns a small businesses in Ohio--The Mayfield Academy of Self-Defense.
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