Advice from Miss June

My friend Tiffany shared with me a blog by an experienced and wise woman and mother of eight who gives advice and encouragement to mothers on how to build beautiful homes for the Lord and raise children who impact their world for Christ. It is one of my new favorite blogs, and Miss June has generously given me permission to share some of her posts here. There are so many thought-provoking posts whose content has the ability to make all of us better wives and mothers, and since I know most of you who read my blog are wives and/or mothers, I am going to try to pick one of her entries every couple of weeks to share in hopes that her words will bless you as they have me (if you have time, you can go to her blog to read them for yourself). This first one I have chosen to share is the one that my friend Tiffany used to encourage me a few months back when she first introduced me to this blog (thanks, Tif!:):

The Exquisite Home Culture

What is home culture, you ask?

Home culture is the atmosphere that is purposefully and intentionally cultivated within the four walls of your home. It is the music when you walk in the door; it is the conversation at the dinner table, it is the games played by the fireside, it is the singing when your daughters do the dishes or the laughter of small toddlers who find a small green caterpillar. Culture . . . it exists just as richly and lively inside your home as it does outside your front door.

Dear Mothers, we weave the tapestry of home life for our loved ones as we create the culture of our home. As we sit down and plan the days and months ahead, we purposefully begin writing what is akin to a novel of soon-to-be memories of our families’ lives. The music played in the background of your homes today will become the soundtrack from their childhood. The art you hang on your walls can have a deep and lasting impression on a child’s mind and soul. Children will forever fondly remember the smells, music, joy, and memories of their childhood and always fondly desire to return to it . . . even when they are old and grey.

But even more importantly than these things are what is experienced in a home. Is there a joy, peace, and forgiveness? Or is there anger, strife, and quarreling? That is what makes a home. Not the fancy furnishings or the designer tablecloth that the magazines taunt us with – but the LOVE and TIME that is lovingly sacrificed for one another. Mothers, even if all the earth around you is wicked – you alone create and make your home a small haven for your family behind those closed doors, a sacred dwelling where Christ is center. There could be ruin and folly outside your doors, but inside your peaceful sanctuary, you, with loving hands, create a calm refuge for those you love.

Christ must always be the center of the home otherwise all other things will be off balance. True peace cannot be attained if the Prince of Peace is absent. At home, make every effort to teach children patiently His Word, doctrine, and apologetics. Teach them about the world around them so they will be a well-trained soldier going into battle totally prepared. Patiently explain to them the Gospel as many times as it takes in hopes of saving their souls, and do not abandon or assume this precious responsibility to another.

At the meal table be sure to enjoy lively discussions about Scripture, ethics, worldviews, missions, current events, church planting, sermons, ways to minister to others, etc. Home should be the hub of excitement – where great plans and great lives are molded, where hospitality and ministry takes place. We do not need a church program to do ministry – instead, we need to view our homes as a focal point for ministry to begin. Are our homes perfect? Certainly not – a home filled with sinners will contain sin! Mercy, grace, and forgiveness are common visitors at our home. A home of imperfect sinners will learn to rely heavily, humbly, and wholeheartedly on its Savior.

Home should be a merry, spirited place of celebration – joke around, wrestle, play games, chase each other, go out together, travel, play instruments, sing together, relax together. Do not stifle children with a rigid and cold home environment and extinguish the joy from their hearts. Children are like flowers who bask in the sun of love. Too often we ignore our children or put stern expectations on them and do not savor the grandeur and beauty of their childhood. Home should also be a place that when the dark streets temptingly beckon our children’s hearts – that they will remember the sweetness and joy of the home life and hopefully choose that shelter instead.

Home culture takes planning . . . it takes time . . . it takes thought.
Mothers hold the brush in painting the beauty, fun, and memories in children’s lives.

“By wisdom a house is built, and by understanding it is established; by knowledge the rooms are filled with all precious and pleasant riches.” ~ Proverbs 24:3-4

Dear Mothers, what a privilege it is to prepare such a place for our families. Prayerfully begin planning the culture for your home today!