Think a minute…What is the perfect climate you want to live in? A warm one or a cold one? A sunny one or a rainy one? Did you know that you can live in the climate you’ve always wanted? I’m not talking about the weather climate, but the far more important emotional climate of your home. The daily mood of your marriage and family. Just like a garden lives and grows best in the right kind of climate, so does your family.
Are you a thermometer or a thermostat? A thermometer only measures the temperature, but a thermostat controls the temperature. Do you let your environment control your family’s emotional temperature? Or do you control the emotional temperature of your family? It is we ourselves who actually set and control the emotional climate in our family by the way we talk and treat each other. We choose to be either hot-headed, impatient and angry, cold-hearted, distant and inexpressive to each other, or to be warm, kind, patient and loving to each other. The way we choose to react to our everyday problems, mistakes, and disagreements will determine the daily mood and feeling in our home.
Do you wish your family was more peaceful and happier? That you and your spouse did not argue as much? That your kids were happier and more confident? Remember, no one is forcing you to live in that kind of unhappy atmosphere. It is your choice. You must decide to be the first one to change and control your own heart, moods, anger, impatience, conflict, worry, fear, etc.
We need to remember: “A man is only as big as the things that make him angry.” There are only a few things in life truly worth getting upset about. Most of the little things we get angry about are not nearly as important as our family’s feelings that we hurt. So, take a lesson from rocket science and “Count down before you blast off.”
Studies show that most of the tension in a family comes from using the wrong tone of voice. “More than what you say is how you say it.” It’s the way we talk and treat each other that determines how much peace, joy, and love our family experiences each day. But you cannot have a peaceful, happy marriage and family until you yourself have inner peace, joy, and self-control in your own heart.
Won’t you ask Jesus to forgive you for your past anger, lack of self-control, and impatience with your family? Then ask Him to take control of your heart and character. That is when you can start enjoying the happy and peaceful climate you want in your family every day of the year, regardless of the weather and climate outside. Just think a minute…