Not long ago I found out that another marriage has bought the farm. Once again, this is a couple that I hold as a good friend. Tonight I find myself shaking my fist angrily at God and asking "How many more of my friends need to go through this? This just isn't right!"
In any trial there is a prosecution and a defense. In divorce proceedings there is a prosecution and a defense on each side. All four elements engage in a battle, each side using their prosecution and defense resources to impugn the other into submission or retreat until a judge declares - not a victory - but a cease fire.
I'm so upset by this that I sat my analytical self down and attempted to make an outline, methodically laying out everything I wanted to say in this blog post. In the end it all seemed like crap. So please bear with me as I try to communicate to you what my heart feels.
Guys, your home is the most important thing you have. It's not just outlets, toilet valves, and shingles. It's your home base of operations. It's your fallout shelter from the blasts of the world. It's the operations and logistics center for everyone in your home. It's the war room where you solve problems and settle differences. It's the oasis where you find peace and rest. There are two very basic and very important aspects of your home that you have to understand clearly in order to prevent the retaining of legal counsel to impose a cease fire to the dysfunction.
First, you have to understand that your home has a physical realm and a spiritual realm. In the physical realm you close and lock all your doors and windows when you leave the house and when you go to sleep at night. Why? Obviously, to prevent those who would do you harm and steel your valuables from doing so. It's common sense. The same thing is true in the spiritual realm. You need to take care to secure your home spiritually from those who would do you harm and take your valuables. If you leave a door or a window unlocked or open it's an invitation for satan to come in and do harm to your relationship with your wife and your kids, rob you of your patience, your understanding, your leadership - leaving you with self doubt, anger, frustration, and all kinds of other bad stuff. A guy can continually leave a spiritual window open and suddenly wake up in a crappy one bedroom apartment with the realization that everything he had has been taken from him. You have to secure your home on the spiritual level as-well-as the physical level!
The second, and most important, aspect is that your relationship with God is directly connected with everything in your home - physically and spiritually. How you humble yourself before God, acknowledge the Holy Spirit inside you, and choose to live under grace - OR NOT - will have a direct and immediate impact on your home and everyone in it.
Please take some time today to be by yourself, in a quiet place, and make an honest evaluation of where you are with these two very important aspects of your home. If you search your heart and you decide that you're on a pretty good track, then I'm happy for you - God bless you as you continue. If you're struggling - if you know things aren't right - and you're not at all sure of how to bale out your boat before it goes under, please let me know. There is help for you here.
No comments:
Post a Comment