There is no one right way to live life in a home. No one size of routine or rules or order fits all. Homes with young children will be quite different from a single-adult home. Elderly adults will order their lives by different life rituals than will young marrieds or students. But the more carefully we plan our days, the better our homes will provide us with freedom and enjoyment as well as purpose and accomplishment.

Many years ago, I began the habit at the beginning of the new year to declutter my heart and soul.

Pondering Mary, one of my favorite role models, I speak today of what was in her heart when God says, "Greetings, you who are highly favored. The Lord is with you."

When Jesus said, “whoever gives one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple, truly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward," I’m quite sure He also had in mind "whoever gives a steaming cup of tea!”

Faith requires a listening heart. God is so willing to use normal people—who are listening, willing to obey. What risk will you take, by faith, to live a story that others will tell for generations to come?

Today, my forever friend, Jacqui and I speak of friend formation, and tell of our intentional and purpose driven fun times and how it has shaped us. Such fun. Hope it encourages you.

Nothing quite prepared me, as an untrained young woman, to know how to bear all of the stresses we would face by being a family. And yet, I had been taught to seek God’s word, to pray and to obey and live in wisdom.