14 Ways to Show Your Family "I Love You" (#1)

Over the past several months (year, really), I've been quiet on my blog.

Certainly, it has much to do with the busyness of motherhood and all that is asked of us as parents, but it has also been because I've been at a loss for words. Unsure of what to write...or to whom I'm writing...or why I'm even writing anything...I've come to question Who exactly is my audience and what do I have to share?!!!

Recently though, with the help of Pinterest (yes, Pinterest!), I've begun to more fully embrace who I am, what I love, and what I wish to share publicly.

Sometimes, as women, we are prone to reinvention...creating and recreating ourselves to be who we think we should be as wives, mothers, homemakers, entrepreneurs.   Instead, I think we should focus on self-discovery and then embrace exactly who it is we discover we are in the eyes of God.






In recent days, perhaps because of the Newtown, CT tragedy or the shocking news of two separate incidents in the Kansas City area of toddler/preschoolers being shot with guns in their own homes, I'm more convicted than ever to write about the necessity of making our homes a safe haven.

14 Ways to Show Your Family "I Love You"
#1  Make Your Home a Safe Haven 

Our homes should and MUST be places of refuge from the outside world!  When our little ones arrive home after school or our spouses come home from a long day at work, our homes should be filled with beauty and order.  That doesn't mean expensive furniture or plastic coverings to keep little hands from touching.  No, not at all!  Nobody wants to grow up in a museum-like home!  

What home as a haven does mean is that our homes must be warm, inviting, welcoming.  They should be clean and ordered where home cooked meals are served more often than not, where we are proud to open our door on a moment's notice, where our children and their friends wish to play and hang out!

Our homes should be places where our children are safe and free from harm...free from handguns left lying on chairs (good gravy people!)...free from child-oriented websites being spammed with pornography...free from television and radio programming sending subtle messages to our daughters that "skin is in" and "safe sex" is achievable...free from "food court" style dinners and fast-food breakfasts.

This madness needs to stop.  

And we, as women, especially those that stay at home (remember the old adage...the hand that rocks the cradle...?) need to take back our homes from big businesses that do not have our family's best interests at heart!!!  I believe in my heart of heats, that unless you place your faith and trust in HIM, you will easily be led astray by the glossy images and not-so-subtle messages of secularism, materialism and hedonism.

 

 So, I invite you to join me today, on this first of fourteen suggested opportunities, to pledge to yourself...your spouse...your children...that you will start to make your home their safe haven! Take inventory...do you have filters on your computers...are your children supervised while watching television...when was the last time you sat down as a family for dinner or had a family game night?  Be the parent your child wants and needs you to be!


 

Comments

  1. I love this! This is what Catholic blogs should be about-- encouraging others in what really matters and offering concrete ways to strengthen our families! I can't wait to see the rest of the list.

    ReplyDelete

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Thank you so much for taking the time to comment. Your kind words are appreciated! As Mother Teresa said, "Let us always meet each other with smile, for the smile is the beginning of love."

Valerie

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