No Place like Home

I will be careful to live a blameless life...I will lead a life of integrity in my own home.

Psalms 101:2,3

We have all heard the expression, "There's no place like home."  It might bring to mind pictures of your favourite comfy chair, your secret stash of snacks, your pet, your fuzzy slippers or your favourite people! Home is where you can be yourself and let go of pretence and forced smiles. At home you can put your feet up, sip your favourite beverage, read a book, watch tv...all while in your pjs. Yes, home is the place where you just get to be YOU.

The thought that struck me while reading this verse was this, what if the you that is at home is not a better more relaxed version of the public you, but a nastier, selfish version. What if the "you" my kids see at home is not a better person but a grumpy, bossy one. What if the person I am at home is not living a life of integrity but hiding things, saying things that are not lovely or a loud, selfish person? Takes the expression "No place like Home" and turns it on its head doesn't it? What if home is not the better place? 

Our kids see everything. Even the things we don't want them to see. They see us, they watch our lives and behaviours, they hear what we say, how we say it, and often what we don't say! Are we careful how we live in front of our children? Do we teach them to be loving and giving and then model selfishness? Do we ask them to be generous, to share and then go home and guard our own possessions as more precious than people? This verse made me take a long, hard look at my own heart.

What can I change today that will show my kids there really is no place like home? That at home we love each other, treat each other with kindness and respect? When we are out in public I tend to be more tempered with my kids. Scold them quietly, smile (tho sometimes through gritted teeth;))while asking them to do something etc. But at home? I yell at them to do the stuff they need to do. Haven't I already asked them a hundred times? It's frustrating! They don't always listen, so I resort to yelling. I am sure I am not alone in this, but if i am then so be it. I want to be honest, transparent and truthful. Sometimes I yell at my kids. Sometimes I am short tempered with them or frustrated with them. Sometimes I treat my clean house as more important than my children's needs. Sometimes I make my children feel like they are the least important part of my day. Far less important than my laundry, baking, floor mopping, or even ...gulp..my screen time.

Our children are such precious little people, fully worthy of our time and efforts. Fully worthy of our patience, our love and our temperance. Far more important than our clean carpet or our tidy house. People are more important than things. Today, with God's help I want to live a life of integrity in my own home. To be the same person at home that I would be out in public surrounded by a group of my peers. To be the same patient parent that I am in walmart, at school or at the park. I want my children to see me sharing and sacrificing my time and energy to help others. I want them to see me make wise decisions and to make friends with my neighbours and those in my community. I want to be real in front of my children, I don't want o be a hypocrite.

I am thankful I have a God who knows all these things and wants to help me to achieve them. Indeed, his help is the only way I can make these changes. His love through me is peace. His love through me is generous. His love through me can help create a place where all who live here can truly say"This is a great place. "

His love through me can help my children realize there really is "No place like home."