For Peace At Home

Have you ever had a hectic day? Maybe the children have been at each other's throats all day.  Or perhaps the day started out with stress. Maybe you went off track a little today, made some poor choices, and are now regretting them.  Of course you want to have peace in your home!  But how can you invite that peace back?  Our family has been experimenting with "resets."  We return to the important starts of our days.  Our day is "supposed" to start with prayer and scripture study and perhaps a song or two. Some days we do this and still have a hectic day.  More often, we forget and have a pretty tough time.  When I notice we're having a tough moment, I call for a reset.  Everyone comes to the living room or wherever most of us are, we turn off technology, and we return to our Father.  We often start with a prayer, but sometimes we need a song to draw in the Holy Spirit first. Then we find a scripture to read together.  Most of the time, we find a good teaching moment here. We once again feel the peace of the Spirit.  We pray for more guidance in our day.  As we have practiced this "reset" idea, we have been doing better about starting our day out the right way, but we also have gotten better about resetting our days in the right way.  Our Heavenly Father is waiting for us to speak to Him.  He has answers for us, if we'll only turn to Him. Our homes can be temples to the Lord.  As we practice these little things, they can grow our faith and our testimonies.  As we center our life on Christ, we can have true peace and happiness. Simple consistent good habits lead to happiness. Are we perfect at this?  Of course not!  And we still have tough days where no one remembers we need a reset.  But we're trying and this is helping.

Where did I find this idea?  Well, it's been evolving for some time, but a part of it came from Elder Richard G Scott's talk in the April 2013 General Conference "For Peace at Home." He begins his talk with these words (emphasis added):

Many voices from the world in which we live tell us we should live at a frantic pace.  There is always more to do and more to accomplish.  Yet deep inside each of us is a need to have a place of refuge where peace and serenity prevail, a place where we can reset, regroup, and re-energize to prepare for future pressures. The ideal place for that peace is within the walls of our own homes, where we have done all we can to make the Lord Jesus Christ the centerpiece.

He tells us that parents are not the only responsible party here.  Children can be taught to help keep the peace in the home. 

Children who are made to feel accountable for their actions...grow to be trustworthy citizens in the kingdom of God.

He also encourages us to be wise in our use of technology.  The fact that we can communicate instantaneously with anyone in the world through the internet is amazing.  We can find answers to many worldly questions, connect with loved ones, and study the scriptures and other important works.  But it can also be a source of filth and distraction.  We should be very careful about what we allow into our homes and what we allow to take our attention away from the most important job we can have: helping our children grow up in righteousness. I know I've been struggling to find a balance.  We need "free time" just as much as our children do.  But our children also need times of our undivided attention.  They need to experience all the beauty that life can offer and they need us to guide them in those experiences.  We need to get out more.  We need to get down on the floor with them more. We need to talk with them and not only to them.  We need to focus our lives in service to others.  The internet can be a great tool to organize and research. But don't allow this tool to use you!

On that note, I'll leave you to read or watch Elder Scott's talk yourself, while I take my children out to experience this world, after we start our day right, of course. ;)
Read, listen to, or watch his full talk here.