Building Our Homes

Of all the tasks set before me as a wife and mother, disciplining myself to keep up with the tasks around the house is the hardest! Keeping of our home needs to reflect God’s image.

There are many attributes of God that we can reflect in our homes. We each, through prayer and personal study, need to find the areas that God lays on our hearts and uses to motivate us personally. Here are some suggestions of what a home can reflect: order, beauty, peace, love, productivity, rest, protection, belonging, joy, consistency.

As God shows you what He wants your home to become, there are some principles that you can apply to start putting these things in place.

1.     Have a plan.

I have heard it said many times, “To fail to plan is to plan to fail.”  This is true in many spheres of life. If we do not have a plan, we will not accomplish what we are endeavoring to do. For some, the sheer thought of making a plan sounds like pointless work. Why waste time planning when you can be doing something instead, but please hear me out. Proverbs 14:1 says, “The wisest of women builds her house, but folly with her own hands tears it down.” Builds here does not mean the constructing of the house, but rather the establishing of the home.

        The first step in building or establishing anything is making a plan. By that I mean having a vision of what your home should look like. Know what attributes you would like to reflect. Without a focused outcome, you are sure to miss your mark.

       Once you know what you want your home to be like, then it is time to create a plan to accomplish your goals.  In the next section we will spend time studying out some of the many plans that are out there. No two homes are alike. Pick the plan that best suits your family.

2.  Take small steps with your vision in mind.

After you have found a plan, start taking steps to implementing it. I will never forget something my art teacher taught me; when you are trying to change an area of your life, start with small steps and build up. At the time he was exhorting us to have our personal devotions, but it is true in all areas of life. To go from doing things one way and completely changing over night what you are doing, you are setting yourself up to fail. Change slowly. Make one new step at a time. Eventually you will get up your mountain.

3. Do something.

It is very easy to get overwhelmed by a monumental task in front of you. Just get started, when you’ve got a step done, then you can add another.

Planning isn’t a once and done thing. This takes laying out your vision regularly, evaluating if your plan is working and finding what the next step of change is for your home.