Adding Peace to Your Home

Your home is your special place where you can invest in other people and cultivate peacefulness.

What’s your favorite part of your home?

Does it involve your home’s character?
Is it a favorite piece of furniture or belonging?
Does it involve a special memory?
Is it the way you feel comfortable when you’re in your favorite spot surrounded by some of your favorite things?

While all of those favorite aspects might have fallen into place without much thought, it’s more likely that you’ve spent some time and thought intentionally setting up your home in your very own way whether you’ve realized it or not.

If you intentionally create the interior of your home with the furnishings, do you also take the same time and through to intentionally build into the relationships in your home?

Whether you’re living alone and regularly focus on welcoming guests or if your home is absolutely stuffed to the rafters with your family members, your home is your special place where you can invest in other people. You have the liberty to nourish and nurture people in any way you’d like.

Often, in the rush of life, it’s easy to overlook the special opportunity we have. Yet it’s there, every single day. Will we take it?

What are the intangibles in your home?

Part of this investment into other people involves tangible things like the comfort of your surroundings. It includes the food you purchase and serve.

But there’s an entirely different intangible aspect that often sets the tone even more intensely than what your house looks, smells, or tastes like. These intangible mood setters directly involve words and attitudes.

If your home’s interior looks lovely but it’s filled with people spewing hateful, critical words all the time, it’s not a comforting place.

If your walls shake from heated arguments and screaming, no one feels at ease or relaxed. Continual disagreements do not add to the ambiance.

Pursuing Peace

The strife may be completely out of your hands and you find yourself stuck in a place with battling wills and abrasive personalities.

Or, you might regularly stoke the fire of conflict, bringing up faults and flaws. You may know that certain conversations will launch directly into epic battles, and you choose to bring up divisive topics.

If this is your reality, it’s important to change. As Psalm 34:14 instructs, “Turn away from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it.”

Seeking and pursuing peace will require different approaches depending on the person and the reason behind any strife.

Because personalities are radically different, you’ll need to experiment with some trial and error, fully realizing that even if you find what works in a particular day, it may not always be a solution.

Sometimes, you can try and try to establish peace to no avail. As Psalm 120:6-7 reveals, “Too long have I had my dwelling among those who hate peace. I am for peace, but when I speak, they are for war!”

Keep trying. Peacemakers are blessed. Even if it seems like your efforts are in vain, keep pursuing peace and peace-filled relationships. Choose your words, reactions, and visible emotions carefully. When you’re frustrated and feel like you’re at the end of your rope, pray! Ask the Lord for His help.

Because the Lord is peace (Judges 6:24), establishing serenity, rest, and an absence of strife is part of His will. Continue to pray that He will fill your home with His peace, then watch how How establishes it!

What do you intentionally do — or not do — to promote peace in your home?

All images courtesy of Unsplash.

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Hilary

Hilary Bernstein is a Christ follower, wife, homeschooling mama, and writer who helps women experience God's perfect peace in messy, imperfect life. She's happiest when she's hosting friends and family for dinner, going on date nights with her husband, singing along to the radio, traveling with her family, and spending cozy nights at home. The author of fifteen books,Hilary also is Women's Ministry Director at The Chapel in Green, Ohio.