Environment Creating

The LORD God made all sorts of trees grow up from the ground--trees that were beautiful and that produced delicious fruit. In the middle of the garden He placed the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. 

(Gen 2:9 NLT)

Yesterday, I painted a picture of a safe haven - a place where our family wants to be, a place that builds them all up in Christ to go out into the world.  I also challenged you to think about those things that are a distraction to creating an environment where our family wants to be.  

For me, my list that negatively effected the environment 10 years ago consisted of things like doing laundry, and having dinner planned and prepared (oh, yeah, without complaining); but things like not tearing my husband down, listening before speaking, and doing nice things for family members when I least felt like it (especially my husband! :) eventually ended up on my list as well.

I started with the things that came up most often as issues in our home which was usually physical, surface stuff like the laundry, dinner, or toys on the floor.  One other thing that I distinctly remember is that I needed to learn to give him time when he first came home before I hit him with stuff from my day.  

I ended up approaching these things with a new attitude because the purpose wasn't simply doing a mundane task that would need to be redone tomorrow.  It's purpose was creating a Haven for my family where they wanted to be.  I had a bigger purpose.  

God did this in the Garden of Eden.  The physical needs of life were all taken care of with a variety of trees which provided their food - no laundry needed, all meals pick and go.  

God also put a tree in the middle of the Garden that gave mankind a choice in this haven that He created for them.

It is not any different really in our Havens.   As I removed these mundane physical issues from our Haven, real things emerged.  I began to see how choices in my attitude and the words that I said were impacting that environment of the Haven I was trying to create.  

Each family member has a choice in how they will impact the environment of your Haven.  I learned that the only person I could change to effect the environment of our Haven was me.  So whatever role that you may play in your family, the process of cultivating your Haven begins with you.  

Prayerfully, look over the list of things that are negatively impacting your family's safe Haven.  

1. Begin by embracing this mission of creating a safe Haven.  
2. Remove negative influences on the environment of your Haven. 
3. Also, begin praying - asking God to help you see other things that are effecting your Haven.  

I will be praying for you...