I’ve always wondered about “drawing rooms.”  I was probably first introduced to the drawing room in the game CLUE, remember?  Colonel Mustard did it in the drawing room with the candlestick.  But, what exactly is a drawing room?  I never knew.   It was especially confusing when old houses I would tour would have both a “parlor” and a “drawing room.”  So, what’s the difference?

Well, I just recently learned, that a drawing room is a room where a person could “withdraw” and be away from the clamor of daily activities.  It was a place for family only, and usually guests were never invited to enter the drawing room.  The parlor was to receive guests, and the drawing room’s function was to provide a place where the family could “withdraw” and not have to deal with the guests!

Small wonder that drawing rooms have disappeared from houses now that travelers do not stop at our dwellings and expect to be taken in for the night because there is no place else to stay.  Hotels and motels now provide adequate lodging for travelers and so there is little need for drawing rooms today.  Or, is there?

I can’t help thinking how welcoming a drawing room might be when we just want to be alone and sit with the silence for a moment.  Or, how inviting a drawing room might be if we wanted to read a good book without the television in the background entertaining some other member of the family.  Even Jesus withdrew to a quiet place – away from his disciples – to think and to pray.  So, where do we go to withdraw?

It’s worth thinking about.  Where do we go when we need space by ourselves and we would like grace alone to be our companion?