How to Make a Home a Safe Place~Day 26

Home. 

You'd think it would be easy to make home a safe haven, yet it doesn't come without a fight.

To lock the doors and shut out all that's not worthy of our time and attention, to bar the windows against hatred and the ugliness of the world, to feel protected, loved, and encouraged.. it takes time and a whole lot of energy focused on eternal rewards.

It's easy just to let the door fling wide open and let all just come in and out and be brought in or played with a shrug of the shoulders.

What's hard is keeping the home sacred, something special, someplace where what you feel you can't get anywhere else but here, home.

Josiah boy wakes early to the dark of morning.

And I awake to the sounds of shuffling feet against stained carpet as newly awakened legs trudge to the bathroom.

With the flip of the light switch he hastens his steps back to his room and I wince and suck in a breath in hopes he remembers to shut his door softly so as to not wake his younger brother. 

It rarely happens.

But what almost always happens is a soft voice speaking out from the confounds of his room now lite by a soft light evident by a glow from under his door.

He's in Leviticus now. 

I wish I knew where he got it from. 

That zealous for the Lord.

Maybe from the few times he saw me bring the Word to the table? Ashamedly not enough, but a fight every time.

It's a wrestle to bring the Word to the forefront, but so simple and the easiest of things to do.

How can we expect to raise a future generation of word warriors if the word never gets broken into or brought out or beheld?

I can wish for it all I want, but wishes that lack actions never amount to anything.

A home can never be its safest without the Word that brings a Refuge.

For a safe home simply savor the goodness of God.

My hopes for a safe home:

Create a home that worships instead of worries.

Create a space that's safe because of a Savior's grace and because of you who gives grace over and over to weary children and stricken spouses and to yourself.

Create fellowship and honesty among each other that binds His words in our hearts.

Always opened doors and arms to the loved and lost and closed doors to the world's wants and its harmful addictions of selfish indulgence.

This---garbage in and garbage out applies.

Always the prodigal son and never an unwelcome return.

Fill full with good food, laughter, the sharing of souls, brutal honesty, and friendship.

A place where any question can be asked or issue addressed and all responses respected.

Kind words, slow to anger, abounding in grace and forgiveness.

All these things simple to say harder to make happen, but with God all things are possible and we only have one home.

No matter where the head lays, home is the heart of a family that's carried inside.

Tend it well.