Growing up in a Christian household, I have been surrounded by many biblical and godly standards of living. I was raised fairly sheltered from the world. I grew up only knowing Christian music, only watching Veggietales and the occasional Disney movie, I was homeschooled, my dad is an Elder of our church, all these things and more beginning to shape my life and relationship with God. I think the most influential home liturgy that improved my relationship with God was, at least whenever I'm around my parents, to listen to Christian Worship music. I believe we get so much of our influence and character from what and who we listen to, and being forced to listen to godly, faith-based music from birth really shaped my relationship with God. That definitely has its downsides, for example I thought it was a sin to listen to "secular" music. But, at its core, having the primary music in our house be Worship music really showed me and instilled in me God's character greatly. It also taught me that the right response to God and living life according to his Word is worship.
That was just one home liturgy that had the greatest positive affect on my life, but I also wanted to share a brief lists of others that have impacted me too. Some include: Sharing what we're thankful for at dinner, praying with our parents every night before bed, emphasisng Christ in every holiday, going to church every Sunday early for Sunday School and the main service, volunteering at any church oppurtunity, doing devotions with my brother, being trained to "see a need and fill a need," as my mom would say, being disciplined everytime we disobeyed our parents, and so on. While I know this is just a list, I think they all speak to the person I've become, whether I had good expereinces with these liturgies or not. Something that is equally as imporant as these is how I use my experiences to give advice and wisdom to those who may not have recieved this privilege. Giving those who, may have had a recent change of heart towards Christ, my intake on how to live the Christian life rightly. Being open to help and share while also being open to recieve and listen are both important parts of the home liturgy influence.
In relation to marriage and creating home liturgies, I think that culture tells us to rush in to these things. That, once the feeling of love is there, to make those important decision then and there and do it as an intial response to you feelings. While feelings are valid and it is sometimes good to act on them immediately, God calls us to wait. Just like he is waiting for his Bride, the Church, so too we are commanded to wait and prepare for our bride. Whether that is a literal bride or groom, or creating home liturgies, God wants us to go to him for wisdom and preperation. It is so hard to not be influenced by culture and act soley our of our emotions, but God knows what is best and will tell us when it is best to move or not. I think having good home liturgies makes things easier becuase those ideas are installed in our minds and hearts at a young age.
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