I am the decisive element

My house–and life–is officially full. Dear Julie moved in two weeks ago, (clean and sober 6 months!) making The 1601 home to three last names and six sacred souls ranging from 4 to 60 years old.

I can barely close the cupboards. Food prep in the kitchen sometimes require a dance of sorts. There is much laughter in the air and mud on the floor. There is never a shortage of words.

Each soul in our home is truly a gift to me. Many days I am literally teary-eyed with joy, reflecting upon the honor of housing such exuberance and spiritual vitality. Such love and peace and growth and joy teeming within our walls. But some days, oh some days … let’s just say the house is teeming with a different sort of energy altogether. Or at least it is in the hidden place of my heart.

And so, in the midst of homeschooling and church-planting and house-sharing and speaking and writing and loving and leading I am finding one truth to be of utmost importance right now. It is this:

I am the decisive element. 

“I have come to the frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element. It is my personal approach that creates the climate. It is my daily mood that makes the weather. I possess tremendous power to make life miserable or joyous.

I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration, I can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal. In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis is escalated or de-escalated, and a person is humanized or de-humanized.

If we treat people as they are, we make them worse. If we treat people as they ought to be, we help them become what they are capable of becoming.” -Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

May you receive your sacred mission of making the mood of your house one of life, grace, joy, peace. May you pray daily for the shalom of your home. May you draw from the deep of God’s living water, for the strength to respond to chaos and criticism with unflappable calm. May you quench anger with forgiveness, melt moody iciness with the warmth of your love. May God give you the power of His Spirit to be His instrument of inspiration in your home today.

{Have a blessed week; Thanks for reading.}