Order at Home

One of my passions is astronomy. When I go out in my backyard and look through my telescopeat my friends, the planets and stars, I feel so close toGod. Not because heaven is in space, but becauseit is so obvious there is organization in all things.He is a God of order; with everything in it's perfect place. Everything has a purpose; a mission. SinceHe is order in all we see it only makes sense that people should liveby order too.

Just like laws and principles govern the skies and the earth,there are laws meant to govern us as well. That is why we have chosen to apply governingrules to our hometoo. We feel like there is no better example of how to run a home than the way God runs our world;the current home for His family.

Our family has a set structure. We have certain meetings each week to strengthen the family relationships and keep the home in order. The meetings we have are Couple's Meetings, Family meetings, Family Home evenings, and Mentor Sessions. These meetings all happen on the same day withing a period of a few hours. Taking those few hours for the family each week helps our home keep the Spirit of love and harmony in it. That feeling in the home is the most important thing.

Of course we also believe in having a certain way of parenting and teaching certain skills our children need to learn to be productive, happy people in the world. The skills are: Following instructions, Accepting "No" answers or Criticism, Accepting Consequences, and Disagreeing Appropriately. These are essential skills for happiness and success in life. People who can't disagree appropriately are never happy.

Yes, order is good. God has order and wants us to have it too. We can choose to apply the principle of order any way we want, but I believe that a house of order is more than just a clean house (although that's not a bad idea either). A house of order is knowing God is over parents and parents are over children. And that all are then subject to God. An orderly house is also a house which can keep the Spirit of love present by living in an orderly way. I am not sayingour family isperfect at all of this yet, but this is the goal for our family. Order makes everyone comfortable and happy.