Have you "graced your space" today? Women sometimes fall into a rut when it comes to their homes and families. Boredom can bring on a lackluster attitude as we plod along day after day performing the same mundane routine from morning until night. We cook, clean, taxi the kids from activity to activity.....well, you know the drill. But how often do we relax and survey the space we call home? How often do we actually enjoy our dwelling place, our nice accessories and the comfort and peace they offer?
I once knew a lady who had the propensity to safeguard her precious belongings. Her nicest bedding, linen, china, stemware, vases, jewelry, lingerie, etc. were placed safely away for later use. She worried that something might be broken or stained or lost. It was not that she wasn't going to use her fine accouterments....it was just that they were not going to be used today. Today turned into tomorrow and tomorrow turned into next month. Next month turned into next year and so forth until she died in her late sixties. She never experienced the joy and beauty of enjoying those cherished items. She only admired them occasionally as they lay in a drawer or hung in her closet.
Don't wait for tomorrow. Don't wait for company. Today, let us bring out the beautiful linens, albums, quilts, candles, crystal goblets and china. Have each member of the family dress elegantly for dinner (at least one night each week). Eat slowly by candlelight while listening to classical music. Engage in interesting and civil conversation. Practice correct table manners. Enjoy good wine. Say "please" and "thank you". Encourage our families to appreciate and practice gracious living.
Today we can bring harmony and serenity to our home through appreciating one another and sharing our personal luxuries. Live graciously, love abundantly and enjoy the blessings God has given.
"Perform every act in life as though it were your last." -Marcus Aurelius
I once knew a lady who had the propensity to safeguard her precious belongings. Her nicest bedding, linen, china, stemware, vases, jewelry, lingerie, etc. were placed safely away for later use. She worried that something might be broken or stained or lost. It was not that she wasn't going to use her fine accouterments....it was just that they were not going to be used today. Today turned into tomorrow and tomorrow turned into next month. Next month turned into next year and so forth until she died in her late sixties. She never experienced the joy and beauty of enjoying those cherished items. She only admired them occasionally as they lay in a drawer or hung in her closet.
Don't wait for tomorrow. Don't wait for company. Today, let us bring out the beautiful linens, albums, quilts, candles, crystal goblets and china. Have each member of the family dress elegantly for dinner (at least one night each week). Eat slowly by candlelight while listening to classical music. Engage in interesting and civil conversation. Practice correct table manners. Enjoy good wine. Say "please" and "thank you". Encourage our families to appreciate and practice gracious living.
Today we can bring harmony and serenity to our home through appreciating one another and sharing our personal luxuries. Live graciously, love abundantly and enjoy the blessings God has given.
"Perform every act in life as though it were your last." -Marcus Aurelius
1 comment:
I think this is so important--pulling out the beautiful and serving others. It's one of the sources of true pleasure.
I just read an article about how anti-addiction drugs, which block the pleasure receptors in the brain and held much hope for weight-loss and drug treatment, actually do too good a job and cause people to become suicidal. Pleasure is a source of life for us--giving it to others and finding it for ourselves. Not that I'm advancing hedonism because that is not true--but the giving that occurs at a beautiful dinner or love-filled home enhances those who come there and yourself.
I was given a set of Waterford crystal goblets--8--and when I received them I promised to never let them sit in a china cabinet gathering dust. I wanted to buy more, but found they were $100 each!! Since I opened them, and even after I found out how much they would be to replace, I've used them at our dinner table every night and they do not fail to add something special to the dinners. If they break tomorrow I won't feel bad since we've already enjoyed them so well.
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