In these holy places we find peace in the lack of chaos, a respite from the hectic. We also gain greater peace from our visits there by communicating with our Creator and seeking His guidance in our lives and with our families.
We are taught as Latter Day Saints that "only the home can compare with the temple in sacredness". As we pattern our homes after the temple, peace in our homes can come from the same sources. They can be places of peace and organization, a separation from the business of the world, and a place where we communicate with God and our families, building our relationships with them one day at a time.
Peace is the opposite of chaos. Peace in our HOME has a great deal to do with being clean and organized. There is wisdom in the adage "cleanliness is next to godliness".
Here are some ideas for banishing chaos with a clean home:
- Find a peaceful balance with your cleaning. I love the mantra "dishes can wait", especially when there are kiddos to play with. However it can make you crazy when you are trying to cook dinner and don't have a clean dish to use or can't find the can opener. Clean houses help life run smoothly, but clean houses don't need to be perfect. There should be balance. Don't go crazy or lose your peace to cleaning.
Here are my best cleaning tips:
- Assigned Chores: pick a couple of chores that you and your spouse hate to do and assign them to another family member. Or pick a chore that you are very particular about and assign it to yourself. BH always takes the trash out (so icky!) and I hang up Baby's clothes (so I can arrange them by occasion, cuteness, and make sure we rotate the cutest ones evenly. Yes I know how crazy that sounds).
- Shared chores: besides the few exceptions, BH and I share chores and we love it! We have a short list of the chores we do each day. I do as many as I can during the day and BH finishes up all the ones I don't get to when he gets home. We end up sharing the load pretty evenly over the week and the flexibility is fantastic!
Here are some ideas on creating a peaceful atmosphere in the home:
- Love this talk by Richard G. Scott, "For Peace at Home"!
- Fill your home with peaceful media; beautiful music, uplifting programs like The Mormon Channel, BYU tv, and TED talks are my favorites. I have them all on my ROKU so I can play them right on my TV.
- Fill your home with images of Christ, the Peacegiver. My favorite is a piece by Julius Von Klever called "Christ Walking on Water". Mine is a reproduction, which looks great but still fits in my skinny decorating budget.
- Create a safe environment free from gossip. I love the mantra "your name is safe here". If our family knows that we don't gossip about others, they will know that we will always speak of them with respect as well.
- Talk about peaceful, happy things. A positive attitude is contagious and there is always something happy to talk about after all the hard things are handled. Ending on a good note will set you in a happy mood for the next part of your day.
Here are some ideas on bringing peace into the relationships in your home:
- Eliminate chaos by being organized. Clear communication about your needs and obligations, regular scheduling and planning meetings, and clearly defined expectations from each family member will help eliminate a lot of little frustrations and help all the business of life run smoothly.
- Have a mutually agreed on budget. I love Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace. Single-minded-moneyness is one of the greatest blessings to a marriage and family.
- Be careful in the way you react to hard things. Take a break if you need to to organize your thoughts and communicate them in a calm, clear way.
- Always remember you are on the same team.
- Bring peace into your relationships by bringing Christ and Heavenly Father into your relationships. See your family members as their best selves like God the Father does. Think the best of them and give them room to grow. Be their strongest supporters and quickly forgive them. Be the answers to each other's prayers.
I wish I could say I was an expert on any of these things. Each good thing you do benefits you whether you do it for a day, a month, or a year. Life is vibrant and can be wild at times, but each little bit of peace we bring to our homes brings with it a greater ability to love and grow closer to our families. And each morsel of peace we feel is an opportunity to talk with Him and feel His love around us.
“The ideal place [where peace and serenity prevail] is within the walls of our own homes, where we have done all we can to make the Lord Jesus Christ the centerpiece. One of the greatest blessings we can offer to the world is the power of a Christ-centered home where the gospel is taught, covenants are kept, and love abounds.” Richard G. Scott, "For Peace at Home"- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Monica Lynn is wifey and momma dedicated to making life beautiful. You can follow her adventures at {domestic artistry}