3 Secrets for Inviting Peace into Your Home at Christmas
And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me—everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you. Philippians 4:8-9 NLT
Can you keep a secret?
We may not know each other very well, but there is a confession I need to make:
I am not a “Suzy Homemaker”.
I’m not the woman who cleans all day, has dinner planned out every.single.night, and I’m also not the woman whose house is spic and span with everything in it’s place.
Although I’d love to say that I am, I’m just not.
The laundry piles up, dishes stay in the sink over night (gasp!) and dinner may or may not consist of local pickups from restaurants, more than 1 night in a row. However, recently a moment came when I grew tired of feeling deflated and devoid of peace due to my lack of housekeeping abilities. Frustrated, I thought to myself, “I’ve got to somehow stop this crazy cycle.”
I gently heard the Lord respond to me, “Enjoy where you are, bloom where you are planted.”
After some consideration and reflection, I discovered the problem was not that I wasn’t that perfect housewife. The real issue was that I wasn’t embracing the season of life that I was in.
If I’m being honest…and it’s a little embarrassing to admit this, I’ve never really wanted to be a homemaker!
I know that sounds crazy, I’m the mother of 5 kids.
But it’s true!
Not only did I not enjoy being a homemaker, but I really didn’t even want to be at home during the day. Truth be known, I have always had a greater desire to do something significant outside of the home. Yet for this specific time, God had called me to work in the home.
And if I was going to be in the home all day, I needed a peaceful environment.
Now, for me, it’s hard to find peace in a dirty, cluttered, unprepared home. So I began to seek the Lord for answers. Over the next few days God would show me that I could feel a sense of significance doing what He was asking.
I was equipped as a homemaker.
Not only was I equipped, but I could actually experience peace doing it. So I decided to start, but I would start small. I lit candles and played worship music, I picked up a little around the house and began preparing dinner ahead of time (which was a first). That night, a very interesting thing happened. It happened without me being totally aware of it. My husband walked in the door and said, “Hello?” He walked in the kitchen, I greeted him and I watched as he sat in amazement.
His next words would echo in my ears for the next few days, “It’s so peaceful in here.”
I was peaceful. The house was peaceful. The children were peaceful.
Was it really that simple? As I look back over the past few weeks, I’ve realized that peace came through submission to what God was asking of me. My circumstances hadn’t changed… I still had 5 kids to take care of, a house to clean and dinner to prepare. But my heart towards those duties had changed. I am amazed at the grace of our Lord. As I followed His leading, peace began to flow.
Here are some practical tips for inviting peace into your home:
Put on Music
Music is a great mood changer! Many times when I’m in a sour mood, I can put on worship and I begin to feel better. Because it’s Christmas, I wanted to give you a few of my favorite Christmas songs. The first is “Mary Did You Know”. I love this version of the song by Pentatonix. Another favorite is not so popular, but I just love the words of this song, Winter Snow.
Declutter
When things are in order, I feel much more organized and can actually find what I am looking for! If you’re not great at organizing and the Pinterest ideas aren’t inspiring you, ask a friend who is. It’s always more fun when you organize together. Two of my friends have even had organizing parties. How fun! You can find some great ideas here.
Cooking
What’s for dinner? Here’s some ideas of great recipes that I found on Pinterest. I need a lot of inspiration in this area. Being a Virginia girl living in South Louisiana, I need some serious help! If you have some great recipes, please share them! I would love to hear about what you’re cooking. A good meal brings my husband and boys lots of peace!!!
Ladies, let me encourage you in this…. God is peace. There may be many things this season that try to steal your peace, but as you remain focused on Christ and make some simple steps of obedience, I know you will experience His best!
Prayer
Lord, I pray that you give us the grace to cultivate an environment that invites peace. Give us the grace to do the things that you’re asking of us. Lord, help us to have good attitudes towards these things. Most importantly, help us to be submissive to Your leading every day, throughout the day. In Jesus’ name, Amen.