Have you ever asked yourself this question? What is it like living with you? What is it like to be in the same home as you? What is it like to share meals with you, share days with you, hours... minutes?
Are you a joy? A burden? A blessing? Are you gentle? Is kindness on your lips or do you spew harsh words? Do you allow your circumstances to dictate your mood or do you allow your mood to be shaped by your God? Are you long-suffering or do those around you feel like they have to suffer long? I love the definition of long-suffering: "suffering for a long time without complaining : very patient during difficult times."Does this describe you? Home-life is full of suffering... some serious and some everyday kind of stuff. Home-life is difficult at times and requires patience and grace to the extreme in order to be lived well.
How would your family describe you? Who we are at home is who we really are. It is so easy to put on a show but when we are with family they see the real us. I am afraid mine might use these kinds of words to describe me if they were honest: selfish, lazy, controlling and impatient. Ouch. Thanks be to God though that He is always working! We must simply yield to the convictions He brings into our lives and work with Him to bring about the beauty He has to offer in the midst of our messiness. We have to be in the Word and meditating on it day and night. We need to be seeking Him and seeking growth in Him or we will continually slip into old habits and patterns (Rom. 12:2).
My hope is that my children will look back and think of living me as being more like living with a woman chasing after God and seeking to please Him in every way and less like a weary, grumpy, short-tempered mama who is "at her wits end".
These years with our children in the home with us go by so fast. We have only but a little while to be a joy to live with. Soon they will be off on their own, living in their own home and living with us will be a distant (hopefully enjoyable) memory.
My hope is that my children will look back and think of living me as being more like living with a woman chasing after God and seeking to please Him in every way and less like a weary, grumpy, short-tempered mama who is "at her wits end".
These years with our children in the home with us go by so fast. We have only but a little while to be a joy to live with. Soon they will be off on their own, living in their own home and living with us will be a distant (hopefully enjoyable) memory.
Ask yourself often: "what is it like living with me?" and then ask the Lord to reveal to you the ways He needs to work in your heart and life to make living with you a pleasure and not a burden.
May we be more like this woman: "She opens her mouth in skillful and godly Wisdom, and on her tongue is the law of kindness [giving counsel and instruction]. She looks well to how things go in her household, and the bread of idleness (gossip, discontent, and self-pity) she will not eat. Her children rise up and call her blessed (happy, fortunate, and to be envied); and her husband boasts of and praises her..." (prov. 31:26-28) and less like the other women described in proverbs as being: contentious, nagging and quarrelsome.
May we be more like this woman: "She opens her mouth in skillful and godly Wisdom, and on her tongue is the law of kindness [giving counsel and instruction]. She looks well to how things go in her household, and the bread of idleness (gossip, discontent, and self-pity) she will not eat. Her children rise up and call her blessed (happy, fortunate, and to be envied); and her husband boasts of and praises her..." (prov. 31:26-28) and less like the other women described in proverbs as being: contentious, nagging and quarrelsome.
Above all, abide in Him and cling to Him not only for your own sake but for those who live with you! He alone is able to make you a joy to live with.
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