Building a Home

Day eighteen

The last few weeks have been a whirlwind of activity for me and my family and it shows.  There is still residue from projects laying around, the house is not "mom" clean, and there is a sense of longing to sit together and spend some quality time with each other.  I have to say, I have been feeling a little guilty about the lack of quality time, both as a mom and a wife.  So today my prayers were focused on my family and home.

First, I thanked the Lord for all the opportunities He gives us to serve and for all the blessings that come with the service.  I thanked Him for the support that my family gives each other and our desire to help each other grow.  Then, I asked the Lord to bless my family with more opportunities to serve and that we might love those that we serve.  On a personal note, I asked Him to help me be a better mother and wife and to help me create a home that is filled with the Spirit.

My scripture study is in Section 109 today.  This section is the dedicatory prayer given for the Kirtland Temple.  I find it interesting that the day that I am praying for my home, I find myself studying the prayer given for the Lord's house.  This could mean a great study session or a guilt-ridden session, I was hoping for the first!

It turned out to be a great study session.  Some things I learned about building a better home:

v 4- invite the Lord to be the center of my home
v 5-building a better home will take sacrifice
v 7-14- my home should be a place of learning, a place where people feel the Lord's power,  a place where we can learn wisdom out of the best books (I really liked this one because we love our books!)
v 15-19 - my home should be organized (I better get to cleaning) and prepared for every needful thing (food storage), a house of prayer, fasting, faith, and glory to God.
v 20-21- keep the unclean things out of my house (anything that would remove the ability for the Spirit to be here)
v 22- a home where people leave feeling armed with God's power, a place where angels have charge over them. (It has always been my hope that those that visit my home feel better when they leave than they did when they arrived.  And I would love for my family to feel like the angels have charge over them, who wouldn't?)
v 23- a place of knowledge (Specifically a knowledge of the true things in this world, maybe the gift of discernment)
v 24-28- a place of protection and deliverance (A safe haven from the outside world, we need more homes like this in the world!)
v 34- a place of forgiveness (Trying to work out our issues instead of letting them take over. Then help each other progress by forgiving each other and moving forward.  No holding grudges!))
v 35- a place where spiritual gifts can be given (I think all homes are filled with individuals with unique spiritual gifts, but we aren't always looking for them in each other.  How would we treat each other if we focused on helping each other gain and hone our spiritual gifts?)
v 38- a place to build testimonies (and I would like to add sharing testimonies)
v 39- a place of peace (oh to have a Zen-like peace in my home.  I have hope for this one.) 
v 44- a place filled with grace (Something everyone could use each day)
v 45-49- a place to be delivered from the calamity of the wicked, a place of mercy (Wouldn't it be great to feel like your home was safe from those things that lead to wickedness and destruction? This is a hard one because the adversary is attacking non-stop.  Vigilance is required.) 
v 54-67- a place where prayers for the all the nations of the world are given, a place of great love, and a place to rejoice (We often pray for those suffering around the world, but not necessarily for the leaders of these countries.  This is a great thought, I am going to start adding this to my prayers.  As for the great love, I tell my family everyday that I love them and I give them hugs too, especially before we go to bed.  Over the years we have struggled with the rejoicing part.  We are not always as enthusiastic as we should be when things aren't going according to our plan, but as with everything else we continue to work on it together.)

The Lord has given me a great outline of the things I should be working on as a mother and wife. What a great goal to have, to create a home where the Lord would feel comfortable visiting!  I am off to start working on the organizing part (which is greatly needed) with an attitude of gratitude.  You know you have been spiritually fed when you have a good attitude about cleaning!  What a great teacher the Lord is!