Do You Have a Life Giving Home?

Do You Have a "Life-Giving Home?"

4 Ways I'm Bringing Life to My Family

Do I have a "life-giving home?" This question has been rattling in my brain ever since I first heard about Sally and Sarah Clarkson's new book months ago: The Life-Giving Home: Creating a Place of Belonging and Becoming. Do I have a life-giving home? I didn't know how to answer that question.

With all my heart I want to answer, "Yes!" Yet, my mommy guilt kicks in and I feel like so much of my day is spent correcting wrong behavior or attitudes. As much as I'm a positive person and usually can see the "good" in all situations when it comes to scoring the state of my home, I only focus on the negative parts of my day. This leaves me feeling like I need to answer, "No."

The crazy thing is--I know in my heart of hearts that most moms' first reaction to this question is probably similar. Why do we do that? We tend to gloss over all the blessings in our home and fester on what is wrong.

I want to say a resounding, "YES! I have a life-giving home!" As I've been reading through Life-Giving Home, I've been thinking through ways that I could be more intentional about bringing life into my home.

Here's how I'm determining to add "L.I.F.E." to my home

L=Love

I want to express love to my family daily--and not only with my words. This seems like it would be a really simple thing to do. However, I so often get wrapped up in my "to-do's" that I forget to slow down and show love throughout my day. As Sally and Sarah described in their chapter on February, I want to create a "culture of love" in my home. I plan to implement many of the ideas that this chapter outlines to communicate love using their concept of "love languages."

I=Intention

Being intentional with our families is so important. I'm a huge fan of creating traditions to create more unity within our family. Nothing bonds a family together better than fun and laughter. As I wrote in my new book, Sanity Savers for Moms, I try really hard to be intentional about planning fun for our family. However, when I stop and think about it. I've been pretty tired lately. I've been tired for a long time. Sometimes, I'm too tired to even think about planning fun.

This last weekend I was so inspired after coming home from Sally Clarkson's Mom Heart Conference that I added a little extra "life" to our Valentine's Day celebration. Every Valentine's Day I make our traditional Love Muffins, but this year I took time to set the table extra special. I wish I'd captured my daughter's reaction when she came downstairs to see the table set for what she considered was the world's best tea party!

F=Focus

I'm learning to focus on what is good! Like I mentioned above, it's so easy to focus on what is a mess or needs to be fixed in our children's behaviors. I'm trying to focus instead on all of the blessings that I have within my home. I'm not just thinking about my material blessing, although I'm grateful for those as well. I'm concentrating on the qualities and characteristics that I adore about my family and our home.

...whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things." --Philippians 4:8

E=Enjoy

Sometimes it's just the little things that add "life" to our homes. Just slowing down to enjoy our family and the time we have together makes such a difference. Really being present (and not just in the same room) is so important. I'm so guilty of this! I've actually turned off most of my phone's notifications and try to set it on the counter out of the way when my kids are in the room. I want to enjoy my kids--and let them know that I enjoy them.

How about you? What do you do to add "life" to your home?

One More Thing...

Be sure to visit Sally's site to get encouragement and to see when her new conferences come near you. This was her final year for the Mom Heart Conferences, but I hear there will be more conferences--just a different name. You won't want to miss them. Also, make sure you listen to Sally's wonderful weekly podcast with the amazing Kristen Kill. {While I'm mentioning great podcasts, be sure to check out Chrystal Hurst's podcast, too! She spoke at the Mom Heart Conference in Irvine. I had a chance to get to know her a bit while at the conference and just adore her. She interviewed Sally and Sarah about their book--great interview & great podcast!}