Heavenly Mothering is Prepared- Day 4

"By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet,…….., prepared an ark to the saving of his house;….. . " Hebrews 11:7 KJV

When I looked up the word prepared in the Bible I found 100 references. In many of those verses, God himself is telling His people what to do in preparation for coming events. Preparation is important to God and very important to raising your children for Him.

Although the kind of preparation I am talking about does not come with guarantees for the saving of your house, it is an important part of keeping a heavenly atmosphere in your home.
  
What does heavenly preparation look like?

If you look at the things that God prepared or directed others to prepare, there is one common theme, which was an attention to detail and loveliness.
Both nature, which God directly created, and his physical temple, which He directed others to build, were places that were prepared with an attention to detail and beauty. 

As you create a home where glory is given to God, pay attention to the atmosphere. Is your home tidy? Is it free of items which are not useful or not lovely? Does it have the raw materials to teach children to be in touch with the creator side of God? Do you have sufficient outdoor play space that they can spend time in? Do you spend time each day developing the spiritual atmosphere through devotion to the word, worship and prayer?

As you take the time to prepare your home to be a place of worship, both worship in song and worship through learning, service and creative arts, you are setting the stage for your children to grow in the nurture of the Lord.

Things you need to have-
Worshipful music
Art supplies, play dough, paints, lots and lots of paper!
A tidy environment, not perfect, just tidy
Outdoor space, you don't need a hill of sand as depicted in Heaven on Earth, but every child needs a little patch of dirt, plants and water to play in.
Peaceful attitudes, screaming and yelling, although easy to do, do not prepare a home to be peaceful

Things you don't need-
Clutter
Television
Too many scheduled activities-it is hard to develop much sensory awareness while strapped in a carseat.
Red dye #40 and other mood altering chemicals-try a day without it and see how much better your kids behave. Or try the day after the church picnic when your child ate four big puffs of cotton candy to see how much chaos ensues. (who was watching that child anyway?)

What preparations do you take to make your home a heavenly place?

For the rest of the series on Heavenly Mothering click here