This song is part of my 2010 album, In Rewind. It is an entry from my musical journal. No matter how much I wanted to run from the hurt, the pain, the bitterness, I could not have been successful by running away from family. You know the saying, "Blood is thicker than water." When you come to the end of your life, it's your family who is there. Friends come and go, but you always have family. Family is like glue. We're stuck no matter how hard we try to break free. God designed family to be the strongest relationship on earth. It's no wonder the devil's main focus is to separate and destroy families. There are few institutions on this earth more powerful than family. I have watched, sadly, as children turn their back on their families to experience the world. They blunder around for a few years, and then drag back home, beaten, bruised, ashamed.
I wanted to run away - so far away - from my family. I thought they were hindering me from becoming the person I wanted to be. I thought they were keeping me from my dreams and plans and goals. The complete opposite was true. Like Charlies says to Mr. Wonka, "They're just trying to protect you." Family is good about that - looking out for one another. It was my selfishness that caused the problems. I actually wrote this song before I learned the importance of family relationships. I wrote it under protest, the words coming but my heart hardened. It was not until several months later than my eyes were finally opened to the beauty, the joy and the love that family truly was to me.
Swing set in the back
Sand pile in the yard
The girl cookin' dinner
The boys workin' hard
Water in the summer
Gloves for the cold
Lookin' forward when you're younger
Lookin' back when you're old
It's a little piece of paradise I've found in this place
A little bit of heaven shinin' on each one's face
And I know home is sweet, sweet home
And I know home is sweet, sweet home
Mama teaching grammar
Daddy teaching math
Mansions in the treetops
And a place we called The Path
Bible in the morning
Prayers before bed
Stories to sleep by
Things left unsaid
It's a little piece of paradise I've found in this place
A little bit of heaven shinin' on each one's face
And I know home is sweet, sweet home
And I know home is sweet, sweet home
It's the place you're always leaving
When life gets off track
But you know it's where you end up
Cause you know they'll take you back
It's where your heroes live
Where your began to grow
It's all that you believe
Everything that you know
It's a little piece of paradise I've found in this place
A little bit of heaven shinin' on each one's face
And I know home is sweet, sweet home
And I know home is sweet, sweet home