Building Our Homes Together ~ August 17th

Building Our Homes Together.....with JESUS!

For more about Building Our Homes Together ....with Jesus, be sure and visit Prairie Flower Farm. 

You will be blessed!

Good morning, everyone!  Praying you are having a wonderful week in HIM!

The word COMPROMISE keeps coming to mind this morning.  Life is made up of a situations giving us the opportunity to learn to compromise, isn't it?  And that is never more true than in a marriage or in the home!

My friend, Angela, often refers to the following verse when speaking of herself and her husband:

"Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend."

(Proverbs 27:17)

In iron there is great strength.   Some of our wills are like that....we can be very strong willed, which can be an asset or it can be a stumbling block.  

It is an asset when it provides the foundation on which we can rest our beliefs.  It gives us that "step up" so to speak, to be able to express to others, what we believe is  

TRUTH.

However, when we display our strong wills by not being willing to compromise within our marriage or in our homes, it can be a very real "stumbling block"!

You and your "help meet" are one, your thoughts and actions can sharpen one another....not to use those sharpened weapons against one another (because you are ONE), but to be used against the enemy.

It is apart of that "armour" Paul tells us to put on, to be able to stand against the devil.  It is a part of the shield of faith, we are to use to quench the fiery darts of the enemy!

We need to learn to be quick to compromise within our families.  

With children, mom always said, "Pick your battles."  Meaning don't fight over everything.  Rather weigh the importance of the situation first.  Often, when children do not do something exactly the way you would like it done, they are not being rebellious, but developing their own ability to make decisions, to stand on their own two feet.  It is just a part of growing up.

This morning I had to compromise with my honey.  

I didn't want to, at least not at first.

We homeschool our 14 and 15 y/o, along with our soon to be 13 y/o grandson.  Dh is very conscious of keeping to schedules, keeping the boys busy with school during normal school hours, etc.  (He has a teaching degree....so while it gives structure to our schooling, it can drive me a little crazy.  I tell him it tends to cloud his reasoning, by not allowing him to think "outside the box classroom".

Dh and his brother are rebuilding an old pond and dressing the surrounding area.  I reasoned the boys would learn more by going with him today...heavy equipment (they are just beginning to learn a little about how to handle the bulldozers, etc), how about contouring the land, that type of thing.  

My thinking, ~ this type of opportunity to learn firsthand does not happen all that often.  Let's take advantage of it!!!

Dh's thinking, ~ he can get up and get an early start, leaving the boys to do their chores (along with a couple of his chores), they will be able to accomplish some class work (staying inside) and be here to help me.

But what I hear is....no, they need to be at home "in" school.  (Inside the box thinking.)

What he hears....she (me) doesn't want to do classroom work today (which has some truth, as I believe children are continually learning in a number of ways and the more ways, the better educated they actually become.  Obviously, my thinking has not been clouded by receiving my teaching certification.).

Anyway, our joint conclusion was for the boys to stay home doing chores, classroom work and going with me to buy feed, etc. today and tomorrow.  Friday afternoon and all day Saturday, they will go with him to work on constructing the pond.

The boys will benefit from both and hopefully, they will also learn a little bit about compromising, rather than holding out to get their own way.....after all, they can be pretty strong willed, too!

But ~ we are building our home, one day at a time.

BTW, I put up okra and squash yesterday.  Pickings from the garden are a little slim due to the excessive heat and lack of rain, but God is still blessing and we are taking advantage of everything He sends our way.

Praying for each of you to have a very blessed week in HIM!

Hugs,

Cheryl