This is part 8 of an eight part series – Reflections for a Bride

Beginning your home together is exciting! Maybe you will both be moving to a new place, or one of you has lived there and now the other is preparing to move in. You’ve probably already either received some shower or wedding gifts to help with furnishing that first home together,or you’ve shared some preferences with family and friends about what you’d like it to look like. Is it an apartment? A house? Something a bit more untraditional like a motor home or a barn?

No matter where that first home is, it will provide memories. It may even be a place that you’ll eventually want to take children back to see. “Your father and I, when we were first married, lived in that little apartment over there! I remember our first Christmas.Oh, remember when I told you about…?”

Are you dreaming of how you’ll decorate the living room, the bathroom, the bedroom? You may have chosen some favorite colors, or be working within the limitations of that first apartment. I remember an apartment hallway with bits of three or four different wallpapers peeking out. What a challenge that was! Maybe you can already picture yourself standing in your own kitchen, putting the last touches on a special meal for just the two of you.

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May I ask you to dream for a bit longer with me? What else do you want to use to fill your home? I’m not talking about the things you can see and touch this time, though they can contribute in some way. Rather, consider the types of interaction you’d love to see, the emotional climate that someone would sense when walking into your home. What kind of atmosphere do you want to create? It could be a place of quiet togetherness that your heart yearns for after a busy day apart from the man you love. Maybe it is a place for you both to be creative, or to fill with the laughter of friends and family.

I remember a comment a college friend made after we spent an afternoon with my parents and siblings. “There’s so much love there, you can almost reach out and grab a handful!” Do you have enough love to share with those who come to your home?

A lady I knew several years ago once said, “My husband and I decided, life’s too short to spend it angry with one another. We want to choose an attitude of joy each day.” In visiting that home, I had to agree, they’d created an uplifting atmosphere of joy. I’m sure they had their heartaches through the years, but somehow they’d learned to find joy in each other’s company, and for believers, in their relationship with God. Friends felt welcome there.

What about peace? Will your home be filled with a peace that transcends understanding, even when hard days come? There may be lots of activity, it may even be downright noisy, but will it be peaceful? Another characteristic that may appear on your list is faithfulness. Can you depend on one another to be faithful, to be true to the promises you make? Will the responses there be filled with kindness and gentleness? As you begin your home together, my prayer is that it be filled to overflowing with love, joy, peace, gentleness, kindness and faithfulness. May God help you to develop these characteristics in increasing measure in your own life and in your home.