I was raised in a family that could not stand conflict. If there was something between us (parents and children – or children and children), we had to make it right quickly. We were not good at allowing issues to fester. As a result, I grew up learning to be kindly blunt (I hope kind …). We had a very happy home to grow up in as a result of that practice. We did not need to wonder what someone in our home was thinking about someone else in our home. We loved each other enough to be honest.
As I look back at our home, I realize now that we were not “upper class.” I realize that we were not even “middle class.” Having said that, we didn’t know, and we didn’t care. We might not have had the most money for “things,” but we had more than enough love to go around. We did not wear the latest fashions; we did not drive the fanciest car; and we lived in rented apartments for a good bit of my childhood. When we did move into a home, it was a duplex (that means we lived in one half of the house, and another family lived in the other half). We did not have the latest gadgets that the other kids had, but we always had as much fun as anyone.
Today I read, “Better is a dry morsel, and quietness therewith, than a house full of sacrifices with strife” (Proverbs 17:1). My sister and I have often commented about how blessed we were to grow up in the home we did. I can honestly say that I never heard my father raise his voice to my mother, or to us kids one time. I certainly never saw my dad raise a hand to any of us. I know that I might be in an extreme minority with those statements. I am thankful that the governing force in our home was the Word of God. It does not mean we were perfect by any stretch of the word. However, the commitment my parents had to following the Word of God helped us to avoid many of the pitfall others around us were experiencing.
Times have changed a good bit since my childhood days. We now have color TV’s (even that description will confuse the youth of today); we even have remote controls for those TV’s (my sister and I were our parent’s remote controls). Cars are faster, and almost drive themselves, and food can be cooked in a microwave oven in minutes. However, one thing has not changed in all these years. A home built upon biblical principles will still be a house that enjoys the blessing of the hand of God on it. Quietness will exist there, even though turmoil and strife will surround it. I hope that as a result of reading these devotionals that you have determined to make the Word of God a central part of your individual life, as well as a central meeting place in your family. It is the major key to having a happy home!