Above Rubies Daily Encouragement Blogs
Through the weekly and daily devotionals you can be constantly encouraged in your great role of parenting, the highest career in the nation. You can also stay updated on what's happening with the Above Rubies ministry.
THE AMBIANCE
Yesterday we talked about de-cluttering. It’s important to keep the home clean and free from junk and stuff that we don’t need! Isn’t it true that we can live on far less than we think we need? And yet how we need to watch accumulating!
We have moved not only across state, but from one country to the other—New Zealand to Australia and 10 years later from Australia to America. You can’t put all your stuff in a moving van and set off. You have to get rid of everything. Each time we purged a home and started again in another country, I would say, “I’m never going to have another piece of junk in my home again!” And yet, somehow it accumulates. We have to keep purging and not wait until we are moving, don’t we?
But, there is more to organizing a home than de-cluttering. We also have to make our home “feel” a home. You can have a de-cluttered and organized home that has no atmosphere. Everyone wants to walk into a home where the atmosphere is warm, cozy, and inviting.
I love the words one mother wrote in answer to my I LOVE HOME post, “What makes cozy? Touches of homemade, lamps, and things that invite people to snuggle up and be friendly. Ask the items in your home ‘Are you inviting me to you?’ I made a plan for my home. I called it the common sense home. I planned it around sight, sounds, smells, tastes, and touch. Have music, sweet words, and nice odors wafting thru—and of course, lots of hugs.”
Home is a place to feel welcome, not only for your visitors, but for the members of your own family. It is a place for God to feel welcome. God is a dwelling God and wants to dwell in your home. He loves to have the freedom to walk in every room.
A warm and welcoming home doesn’t just happen. We have to make it happen. It is a never-ending opportunity for creativity to make our home a place where everyone wants to be. How could anyone say they could get bored at home?
I think that one of the ways to make a home inviting is the cooking of meals. Meal times gather the whole family together. Meal times fill the home with delightful aromas that whet the appetite and make each one feel warm and satisfied. It is pitiful to be in a home where you cannot enjoy the smells of cooking and homemade bread coming out of the oven and where instead some pre-cooked meal is served.
There is no atmosphere to a meal if the family does not sit around the table together. This brings an ambience that cements the family together over the weeks, months, and years.
This is a Facebook post and not an article, so I must stop. I pass it over to you. I’d love to hear how you make your home a warm and welcoming place. I close with another comment that came in, “I love my home inside out! And I want same for my children.” Amen to that.
Love from Nancy
We have moved not only across state, but from one country to the other—New Zealand to Australia and 10 years later from Australia to America. You can’t put all your stuff in a moving van and set off. You have to get rid of everything. Each time we purged a home and started again in another country, I would say, “I’m never going to have another piece of junk in my home again!” And yet, somehow it accumulates. We have to keep purging and not wait until we are moving, don’t we?
But, there is more to organizing a home than de-cluttering. We also have to make our home “feel” a home. You can have a de-cluttered and organized home that has no atmosphere. Everyone wants to walk into a home where the atmosphere is warm, cozy, and inviting.
I love the words one mother wrote in answer to my I LOVE HOME post, “What makes cozy? Touches of homemade, lamps, and things that invite people to snuggle up and be friendly. Ask the items in your home ‘Are you inviting me to you?’ I made a plan for my home. I called it the common sense home. I planned it around sight, sounds, smells, tastes, and touch. Have music, sweet words, and nice odors wafting thru—and of course, lots of hugs.”
Home is a place to feel welcome, not only for your visitors, but for the members of your own family. It is a place for God to feel welcome. God is a dwelling God and wants to dwell in your home. He loves to have the freedom to walk in every room.
A warm and welcoming home doesn’t just happen. We have to make it happen. It is a never-ending opportunity for creativity to make our home a place where everyone wants to be. How could anyone say they could get bored at home?
I think that one of the ways to make a home inviting is the cooking of meals. Meal times gather the whole family together. Meal times fill the home with delightful aromas that whet the appetite and make each one feel warm and satisfied. It is pitiful to be in a home where you cannot enjoy the smells of cooking and homemade bread coming out of the oven and where instead some pre-cooked meal is served.
There is no atmosphere to a meal if the family does not sit around the table together. This brings an ambience that cements the family together over the weeks, months, and years.
This is a Facebook post and not an article, so I must stop. I pass it over to you. I’d love to hear how you make your home a warm and welcoming place. I close with another comment that came in, “I love my home inside out! And I want same for my children.” Amen to that.
Love from Nancy
