Love, love, love – love is all around us but how real is it, in each of our lives? Why do we still have so much chaos, despair, pain and shame with all this love flying around us?
Let’s pick one word from the bunch, shame. Love and shame are not compatible, not in any way. Apart from the ‘e’ at the end of each word, they share no other similarities. Where love welcomes, understands, shares, positively grooms and secures, the other destabilizes and destroys.
And where one is present in excess, the other is quietly stuffed in a box or completely non-existent, except where forcefully made to co-exist in an environment like home. That’s when you hear of the different heart-rending stories of physical-sexual-mental abuse going on in different homes – a colossal betrayal of trust and degradation of what should be a models of good and beauty, negatively affecting the moral fabric of our larger society.
But it doesn’t have to be so.
Home has been described in many different ways, with several different objective and subjective imagery, depending on who’s painting the picture but there is that universal depiction of an ideal home as a place of acceptance, warmth, rejuvenation and real love. One of the songs I love that depicts this ideal environment, by award-winning christian artiste, Sandi Patti says,
“Wherever there is laughter ringing, someone smiling, someone dreaming we can be together there ’cos love will be our home where there are words of kindness spoken, where a vow is never broken we will be together there ’cos love will be our home..”
In this kind of athmosphere, shame cannot exist – it would be too embarrassed to rear its ugly head, what with all the truth, affection, kindness, and safety clogging every space of that home. In fact, it would promptly vacate the premises, shuddering and vowing never to return. And at this point I’m obliged to ask, does this describe your own space – a place of love?
Don’t be ashamed if it doesn’t please, this is not a perfection competition; thank God Jesus did not come for the perfect and healthy (Luke 5:31, Mark 2:17).
Even I the asker do not have this beautiful environment I’ve just described, yet. But I want it and I am working on getting it, in keeping with that our 1-sentence New Year resolution, “I am determined not to give up on my dreams.” And it is a dream possible to achieve because with God, nothing shall be impossible (Luke 1:37).
The way I see, I just have to turn my home into an extension of God’s kingdom. Of course, this immediately raises the question, “How do I bring God’s kingdom in my home?” The short answer could be to look a key bible verse relating to this, for instance, “For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.” (Romans 14:17) KJV
Then consider what should be done to have such attributes in the home, in other words, a place that promotes righteousness, enhances peace, bubbles over with joy and its members are led (completely influenced) by the Holy Ghost.
As spiritual foundations and buildings are properly built through prayer, it would be good to pray, asking God to turn your home into an extension of His kingdom and any other point you deem necessary to raise in line with this. But why should we even bother with stuff like this? Well, as christians talking about making progress in a new year, we cannot really do so without love. Love is the start of all things worthy of starting.
Now I know that we are humans prone to making mistakes and that all this seems easier said than done but one secret to success is to be willing to pursue a dream in the first place. Start here. God’s kingdom is the perfectest ideal home, with all the acceptance, dream fulfillment and laughter you could ever imagine or desire. And it’s accessible to everyone, scratch that, it’s open to you.
So whatever your circumstance, come in! There’s plenty of love here, no shame, none at all.
Written by Isabel Wrights
![The suspects who killed the officer are now on the run (image used for illustration) [Guardian]](data:image/svg+xml;charset=utf8,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D'http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg'%20width%3D'300'%20height%3D'172'%20data-ring-placeholder%3D'1'%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E "The suspects who killed the officer are now on the run (image used for illustration) [Guardian]")