Power Over The Thermostat

Years ago I heard a speaker say that women are the thermostats of the home.

It’s a concept that really struck me and has stayed with me.

Just as an actual thermostat dictates the temperature of the home, women have the power to dictate the temperature of their households.

Think about it…

If you are cranky, irritable and unhappy, you will make the tone of your house ice cold.

“Watch out for mom, she’s in a bad mood!”  

“I better tread carefully around the wife…I don’t want to set her off.”

On the flip side, if you are joyful, content and generous you will create a warm, inviting atmosphere for your family.

“I had a terrible day at work, but I’m so happy to come home to my wife.  I know I’ll feel better when I see her.”

“Going out is great, but I love to be home with mom because we have so much fun.”

Women, it’s a powerful tool we wield!  We can use our power to bring life to our families or to bring death.

Source

About a year or so, I discovered a very encouraging blog via my friend Kelly.  It’s called Time-Warp Wife which is a very fitting title since most people today would say the concepts shared in this blog are old-fashioned or outdated.

I find the contrary to be true.  This blog has challenged, encouraged and inspired me to be a better wife and mother.

I believe everything we need to know about life is tucked within the pages of the Bible.  It can be tricky to find it all and since I’ve been reading the Bible day by day this year and have had a heavy dose of the Old Testament, I’ve really questioned the whole book on a few occasions.

We would love to have a nicely organized instruction manual type of Bible, but instead God chose to give us a mysterious story.  It’s full of life giving words and also lots and lots of seemingly random facts.  Laws upon laws, genealogies upon genealogies and accounts of wicked kings followed by good kings followed by more evil kings.

I’ve wrung my hands in frustration while mulling through some of the old testament content.  The daily readings have felt tedious and irrelevant at times, but I can honestly say that when I look back on the past 6 months I see themes woven through those obscure passages. 

Looking at it all from a distance, I learn more about who God is.  I can see our great need for a Savior and it becomes apparent that humans are truly the same today as they’ve always been.  The discipline of reading the Bible in a year has been so good for me!  I’m glad Andy and I took this challenge together this year, otherwise I’d probably have already given up :)

Ok, back to what I was saying…

The kind of wife that the Bible calls us to be can seem impossible and outdated, but I really believe it’s living truth.  If we embrace God’s model of a wife and work on living it out, we can be a tremendous blessing to our husbands and children.

Isn’t that what we want?

As selfish as we all can be, wouldn’t we love to be treasured and cherished by our families because we serve them sacrificially?

Sure it requires us to put ourselves on the back burner, but the reward of their affections and love is such a sweet payoff.

As wives and mothers we have more than our share of daily chores that serve our families, but I think it’s about so much more than what we do.

It’s about how we do it.

Do we see it all as monotonous drudgery or a sweet privilege?

Are we joyful and motivated or are we cranky and whiny? 

Our attitudes are so very important, and some days it’s nearly impossible to face the day joyfully.  We weren’t meant to do this all on our own. 

On good days we should thank God for the extra strength we feel and on the bad days we should ask Him to give us an extra measure of grace and love.

I’d encourage you to read the whole post over at TWW…it’s full of good stuff.

So ladies, let’s crank up our thermostats to keep our homes and families toasty warm!