Maybe the fragrance thing is a individual internal thing that spills out onto others…..maybe if we focus on the HOME as a fragrance we have missed it…….is God getting bigger INSIDE your kids and you?

This is it! It’s putting the horse before the cart. Once our hearts are filled with Him then he will overflow and spill out – providing the fragrance in the home.

Thanks lovely ladies!

2 Thoughts on That…………

What freaks me out is that God actually likes that stench (i guess we hate it not him)

I am reminded of the outer court of the tabernacle….all those stinky animals, slaughter, blood, stink of entrails, stink of fires and coughing when there was no wind to blow it away…….

This smell (of the burnt offering offered to God) contrasts strongly with the quiet dimly lit inner Courts, where there were no animals, no people, no noise (of that kind), just peace ……huh I know where my family fits!! Not inner for sure!!

I know we are chn of the “inner court” era, the veil was torn etc etc….

How come my family is still outer court?????

The noise, the confusion, the resistance……sigh…….I guess we must move into it………..the fragrance thing is great I agree………but flesh gotta die somewhere…..

Perhaps the family is the flesh crucifier…….coz there are so many variables in a family (of eight like us) it is hard to have everyone smelling gorgeous and Jesus like at the same time!!!!! Hee hee

Maybe the fragrance thing is a individual internal thing that spills out onto others…..maybe if we focus on the HOME as a fragrance we have missed it…….is God getting bigger INSIDE your kids and you?

If we examine the home I think we all fail, some more so because of circumstances….what about the homes with the unsaved hubby, what about newer Christians, what about the rebellious teen, what about people who have NO home…..Christ is IN PEOPLE not homes, we carry Him…..

My second point is like yours Susan………I feel sorry for mothers and folk that read these sort things and grieve and cringe over the ideal and never seem to meet it………….it is truth but it is high!!!

My family I guess is a workshop not a museum….as the saying goes

My job is to live with a crucified Cathy and alive and living Jesus (trouble is that my flesh is a resistant stubborn evil minded beast)….and be that gorgeous fragrance…….that is hard enough in itself…….what be it to thee thou follow me!!

Love you all
Cath

‘How can we make ‘new Edens’ of our homes? What are some of the secrets of home happiness? I might gather them all into one word and say–CHRIST!’

I’m with you in that we don’t always fit the description but Christ being the centre of our home is our goal despite all the other ‘stuff’ we get wrong!!! So thankful for His presence even when we are filthy wretched sinners.

Love and blessings,
Lusi x

I know, I know. That was the cue for me to realise I was having one of my little personal spacs. lol! You know how I get. 😛

Oh yes, it was supposed to be an encouragement even though it *can* feel like one more thing to get right. And dear Joi, I know you know that I do NOT do formula’s…not at all. And if anyone should read this as discouraging, believe me, it will be a parent of a prodigal. Goodness, nothing makes one second guess themselves more than that…but…there is *hope*. Not in parenting nor formulas but our hope is in Christ and His redeeming grace.

It is the tone of the home-life, that is important. We should make it pure, elevating, refining, inspiring. The books we bring in, the papers and magazines, the guests we have at our tables and admit to our firesides, the home conversation, the pictures we hang on our walls–all these are educational.

This line just about has me quaking at the knees…for we do not provide all these things. We are not as conservative or restrictive as many Christian parents…yet the next line says a key:

As in everything, LOVE is the great master-secret of home happiness.

And despite all my failings, Christ is welcome in our home…and in our hearts. I cannot say that He is in every heart but He does sit with us and mingle with us.

In that I take comfort. 🙂

I appreciate the encouragement factor – I need reminders that one day my poor petals will have a *choice* about where they spend their time, and that it will take work on my part to ensure that home is even in the running. But, if I make it the greatest place on earth, there is no guarantee.

The Garden of Eden, created by God Himself, the ultimate Father, was still not enough to stop His children from sinning. I (filthy sinner that I am!) have no chance of making my home so shining an example of homely perfection that my children will choose it over bad company/opportunity to sin.

You could have meant this as a great encouragement, I guess (you know how often I have a little spac about something because of what’s going on in my own little world 😛 ) but just now it reads for me like one more thing for a parent to second guess themselves on (was my house pretty enough? was the atmosphere loving enough? maybe my child is not just totally depraved, and somehow I should have made home more appealing?)

Blah. Just ignore me. I’m having one of my moments, lol!