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Our homes are meant to be places of peace, not perfection.
The goal is not to create the most beautiful home or the most obedient children.
Sometimes we find dirty socks on the shelf, a pile of laundry on the floor, and syrup spilled on the kitchen table. And this doesn’t make our homes less valuable or our homemaking skills worse. It means that our homes are places of welcome for our family. Places where they feel comfortable to be who they are and to drop the pretense that the world wants.
Perfection doesn’t allow our kids to build forts, spill paint on the carpet without being yelled at, or drag furniture across the room. Peace allows for mistakes, knows that messes can be cleaned up, and remembers that our kids’ hearts mean more than a perfectly clean home.
And even when we find crayon on the walls and have to plunge the toilet for the fifth time this week, peace is what brings us down to look in our kids’ eyes and say that it’s no big deal.
When we put aside the perfection, we make room for the imperfect moments of life to draw us closer together. We make room for I’m sorry’s and forgiveness. We make room for grace to cover the mistakes and for new mercies every morning.
In the moments that are anything but peaceful – when the house is a wreck, the kids are misbehaving, and we just want a little bit of quiet – we can ask the Holy Spirit for peace that passes all understanding. When it makes the least sense to have peace, He gives us what we need in the moment
“And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.”
-Colossians 3:15