The Blessing of Home – Sunday, February 09, 1986
How blessed are they that dwell within the house of the Lord and praise his name forever.
The peaceful, pleasant surroundings and gentle accepting love of our Heavenly Father’s home would surely be an ideal environment to dwell in.
But, we don’t have to long for some far-off heavenly home in another life. We create a bit of heaven on earth within the walls of the house we call home. In fact, if we don’t learn to live in love and consideration with those closest to us here, we may find someday that we are less than completely comfortable in celestial surroundings.
The atmosphere in our homes needs constant care, just as the people living in it do. It is so easy to find fault with those who are closest to us. It is so habit forming to criticize and complain that sometimes we succumb to the temptation and turn our homes into something less than the refuge of peace, tranquility, and love they were meant to be.
Psychologist, Victor Frankl, describing his life as a Nazi prisoner of war, said they were once herded like cattle into a boxcar and transported from one death camp to another. On the way, they passed through his home city and, by coincidence, right through his former neighborhood. There was one tiny window in the boxcar. Frankl fought and struggled through the other prisoners and was able to get one glimpse through the window at his old home as the train roared by. He said the memory of that glimpse warmed him for weeks and helped him survive his captivity. Surely, his old home and loved ones would have been a heaven to him if he could have returned to them.
What a tragedy it is, then, if we return to our own homes and bring in the anger and frustrations of the outside world to stir up discord and unhappiness between ourselves and those we love most! What a desecration it is if we allow degrading music, tasteless magazines, or questionable television programs to defile the sanctity of our precious homes!
A house is built on the outside one brick or board at a time, and a home is created the same way. Each act of courtesy and kindness adds its bits of strength. Each smile and gentle word cements relationships in which children can grow in righteousness and security; husbands and wives can grow into the love that is the richest reward this life offers.
So, let us make our home a little more like heaven. Let us enjoy each day together and let us make each day another step upward in our journey toward our heavenly home.
February 09, 1986
Broadcast Number 2,947