Home is the living environment that ties our heart strings to one another and to the place that we belong. To develop such a culture over a lifetime draws our children not only to the memories, but to the messages and values that we embrace together in this loving community. Family culture is comprised of the rhythms of life kept throughout the seasons. For us, it was a daily tea time; devotions in the morning; hot candlelit dinner together each night; piles of book baskets everywhere; loud, daily discussions on every topic; back scratches; homemade treats always awaiting them and their friends in our home; Saturday night pizza and movie every week; spoiling the children on birthdays with the morning cinnamon rolls; shepherd's meal on Christmas... in other words, it was a lot!
The world is calling out to our children in a million ways every day—with media, values, philosophy that is in contrast to a basic biblical value system. The reason we work so hard to build traditions and to create fun and heartfelt rhythms is because we want them to be tied not just to our home but to the messages home helps them remember. ⠀
I have seen that when my children need companionship or advice or just a close friend as adults, it is the practices that we shared over many years that have drawn them back to us, to me, to our love, and to our mutually held faith. And in the space I am still able to speak into their lives over and over again. Each child is different and no one will conform to the family culture without a foundation of love. Yet, if we are to hold hearts faithful, we must aim intentionally and work diligently and wisely to be used by the Holy Spirit to keep their hearts strong, protected, and sure. Cultivating life every day in large ways snd small ways creates the heartstrings that will draw them to your values. Not one day is wasted.
.⠀