My dad mentioned a few months ago… “Ashley, a wife, a mom, is like the engineer of the home. You keep everything running smoothly, you set the atmosphere for your family.” And he ended his thought with a… “You can do it!” encouragement as he always has :P (A true “coach” dad!)

It never left me, that notion of being an engineer of homelife for our families. I think it’s a good encouragement & purpose filled challenge for any moms / wives out there— you have so much impact & influence on the culture and atmosphere of your home. There is so much power in your hands.

Sometimes the very vision we have for our “dream home & family life” we actually don’t help create LOL! (We are human.. sometimes) Like moments where we don’t stick to the routines we know work best, we don’t want to reset the home’s organization for the next day or we loose our patience.

Proverbs 14:1 says this: The wise woman builds her house, but with her own hands the foolish one tears hers down.

Are your daily actions, priorities, attitudes, words, deeds, routines building into the family home life you want to see, or are they not.. What areas might have room for improvement to actually see your home flourish all the more!?

The attitude you have when you start the day, the words you use to describe things, talk about things, the way you treat and speak with your husband— all of these things cultivate an atmosphere in your home. Are you always speaking gratitude or complaining?

I think it’s safe to say, a dream home for anyone would be one full of: LOVE, JOY, PEACE, PATIENCE, KINDNESS, GOODNESS, FAITHFULNESS & SELF CONTROL. Well, funny thing :P— those are the EXACT fruits of the Spirit laid out in the Bible. FRUITS of the Spirit meaning the RESULTS of a Spirit filled home. How do you have a Spirit filled home? Fill it with Spirit Filled PEOPLE, and starting with you!

When we are full of the Spirit, living by the guidance of the Holy Spirit, asking for & relying on the Holy Spirit’s guidance & strength throughout our day to day’s, we will start to see LOVE JOY PEACE PATIENCE KINDNESS GOODNESS FAITHFULNESS & SELF CONTROL permeate our homes.

If you want to SEE: you have to BE.

When you are thinking about what you’re about to do, say, think, act out— does it bring about love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness or self-control? If not.. don’t engineer that in your home.

A SOFT answer turns away wrath. Proverbs 15:1

I just heard a blogger I follow say this week, that sometimes when we want to just list off everything we’re doing as moms to our hubbies, or we want to get the last word in on something, actually comes from a place of pride. Imagine if we always responded with soft answers, ones that didn’t need to do the highlight reel of all of our hard work and efforts and continued to be postured towards serving our family?

As a mom and a wife, your words have so much power!

Tongue has power to hold life or death. Proverbs 18:21

Build your husband up, build your children up. Speak and affirm what you want to see, motivate and inspire the best in your family, not remind them of the worst.

I just LOVE the way Scripture describes a GOOD woman in Proverbs 31— I challenge you to go read & reflect on the full passage here. But I wanted to share just a few call outs below that really inspire me.

Never spiteful, she treats him generously all her life long.

She’s up before dawn, preparing breakfast for her family and organizing her day.

First thing in the morning, she dresses for work,rolls up her sleeves, eager to get started. She senses the worth of her work,
is in no hurry to call it quits for the day.

She designs gowns and sells them,

She always faces tomorrow with a smile.

When she speaks she has something worthwhile to say, and she always says it kindly.

She keeps an eye on everyone in her household, and keeps them all busy and productive.

As we start to prepare our homes for the fall routine, family meals, children activities, and the daily rhythms of life, let’s think about how we can embody that beautiful biblically rooted woman in Proverbs 31. Your family & everyone around you will be truly blessed for it & you will be living out such a rich purposeful life!