Harry Emerson Fosdick urges the case for peaceful homes as places of nurturance. Nevertheless, he recognizes that our homes can become bastions against the world if they are not connected to work for the sake of the world outside. Fosdick affirms the ultimate purpose of peaceful homes:
O God of life, send from above
Thy succor, swift and strong,
That from such homes stout souls may come
To triumph over wrong.
Understood in this way, our homes are places of nurture but also of preparation. From such places some stalwart souls will envision the world in new ways.
To be able to enter daily into the silence
without worries, fears, doubts,
without plans of any sort,
to say no more than, "I AM HERE"
and to feel it so,
simply and truly — is an act of faith,
an exercise in openness, attentiveness, devotion.
It will shape your soul to meet
the Friend of your heart.