Tuesday, June 19, 2018
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There's an Indian reservation in the Southwest where it can be pretty expensive to become a follower of Jesus Christ. Historically, this tribe has forced Christians to actually move outside the village. That actually happened to Amy's great-grandmother. She had been a tribal priestess. But when she gave her heart to Christ, she and her family were suddenly outcasts. But there's this little stone house outside the village where she and her husband ended up living – where Amy's grandmother actually grew up. The house looks, well, and I don't mean this in a bad way, but I want you to be able to picture it, sort of like the stone houses you might have seen on "The Flintstones." But it wasn't easy to build. Great-grandpa would go to work each day and he'd pick up a big rock on his way home. And one-by-one, rock-by-rock, he carried those rocks back to the site where he was slowly building a home for his family. And it's still there, three generations later – built one building block at a time.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Only Way to Build a Home."
The way that Indian man built his home decades ago is still the only way to build a home – one building block at a time. And those building blocks have a name; they're called days. Not years, not months, not weeks – days.
Our word for today from the Word of God in Psalm 90:12 challenges us to a lifestyle that God calls living wisely. Moses wrote these words: "Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom." So, what does it mean to live wisely? To have a heart of wisdom? To understand the eternal importance of each new day! Make each day count! Number your days aright.
Now, nowhere does that mean more in your life than with your family – treating each person as if this were the only day you'll have with them. Setting the stone of one more good day with them to build that home of yours. When you break the challenge of making a marriage work, or being a parent, into bite-size chunks called days, it takes a lot of the fear, a lot of the anxiety out of it. I mean, it's just more "doable." Your strategy for building your family becomes, "Have a good day!"
So rather than focusing on all the bad things out there, and all the things you're afraid might happen in the future, how about focusing on making this a good day for your family relationships? So, each day, you ask yourself questions like these:
- Have I said something really encouraging to each one today?
- Have I said, "I'm sorry" for any way I've hurt him or her today?
- Have I kept the boundaries clear today and enforced them consistently?
- Have I given each person all of me at least once today?
- Have I done something today that makes each one of them feel loved?
- Have I shared a God-moment with my loved ones today?
Now, look, this is not some new legalism or performance chart for you to start measuring yourself by and checking the boxes. It's just to give you a feel for what a good day would look like with the people you love the most; the people that God has actually entrusted to your care.
Now, there's no quick or sporadic or instant way to build a family. You have to add another building block each new day. But if you do, you'll end up building a home, building relationships, and you will build lives that will last!