For the past several days Dave and I had been blessed to have our youngest daughter, son-in-love, and three small grandchildren visit. Our home has been filled with happy times!
After they left, we talked about all the fun things we did while they were here and are hoping to do it again as soon as possible. We hadn’t had this much time with them in over a year.
The house was filled with laughter and joy! There were a few tears and squabbles but those were minimal. Art projects were created, stories were read, games were played, swings were swung, meals were shared and bedtime prayers were said. (Thank God for bedtime, I needed to recharge.)
A happy home!
Yesterday morning when I was reading my Bible I saw plainly that a “happy home” is God’s plan for us and it’s spelled out for us in several places. One of those is right here in Colossians.
“Wives, be willing to serve your husbands. This is the right thing to do in following the Lord. 19 Husbands, love your wives, and be gentle to them. 20 Children, obey your parents in everything. This pleases the Lord. 21 Fathers, don’t upset your children. If you are too hard to please, they might want to stop trying.” Colossians 3:18-21 ERV
These are basic, simple instructions, instructions that create a happy home!
Wives are to submit to our husbands. It’s the right thing to do. There can only be one head in a home and God has vested that authority to our husbands. They, in turn, are answerable to God for making the right decisions for their familes. We are given the responsibility of being “keepers of the home”. It’s a high calling!
Husbands are instructed to love us and to be gentle with us. They are to be our protectors and providers. That’s a big responsibility. They need our prayers and our support. They are to love and care for us in the same way that Christ does.
Children are instructed to be obedient. If they learn this lesson in the home they will be respectful of the other authority figures in their lives, i.e. teachers, employers, elders, law enforcement, the Lord. This goes back to what I was saying yesterday. We taught our children there was one rule at home, be obedient.
Parents…for me, this is the hard one. There’s a fine line between being too strict or harsh and teaching our children discipline and respect. If we are constantly correcting, it becomes nagging, and it can create a child with low self-esteem. God doesn’t want that for our children, He wants them to realize how deeply loved they are by Him and by us.
“Fathers, do not be so hard on your children that they will give up trying to do what is right.” Colossians 3:21 NLV
I realized I was doing this to our kids when they did their household chores. I was pushing them to my standard of perfection and not realizing that they didn’t see things the same way I did. I needed to praise them for their effort and help them see the things they were deficient with.
Our kids are not just our kids. They are also sons and daughters of God and we should be raising them the way He instructs. Will there be times when correction and discipline are necessary? Absolutely. Will there be occasions of defiance and rebellion? Possibly. It’s up to us as parents to bring our children, individually, to the Lord in prayer and get His insight on their upbringing.
A happy home is built on a foundation of God’s love. His word is infallible, we can trust Him!
We keep doing the right thing because it’s right and then we do it again!