The Greenhouse Effect
The greatest gift that we can give our children is to raise them in a home where love prevails. Peace, harmony, and love between mothers and fathers envelop a child with a loving atmosphere that enables them to mature, adopt their parent’s faith, and successfully fulfill their destiny.
Just as greenhouse plants begin their growth earlier in the year, even in the winter, and become healthy because they are not subject to adverse weather and weeds that would choke their life away, so too is a child raised in a home where Christ is central. They are nurtured, loved, and protected when their environment contains parents who love each other deeply. These children will sprout, grow, love their God, and bear much fruit throughout their life.
When parents demonstrate a deep sacrificial love for one another and for their children, they model and demonstrate what God is like. To accomplish this in our homes demands all of us to put our marriages first – above all other earthly relationships, our careers, and even our service within our church.
This living out of our faith within our marriages and homes is not a religious effort, but the working out of all the aspects of our daily life as Christ would live it. This living out of our faith should take place within our normal every-day activities. This process of changing, improving, and growing should be seen in the way we do the dishes, change a diaper, or play ball with our children.
It will be reflected in the way we communicate with each other and the way we make decisions. In the beginning, it is more about changing our attitude and should be seen in the way we sacrificially love our spouse and our children.
If we want to truly please our Maker and become like Him, it can only be accomplished through sacrificial love. That is the type of love God recognizes, and that is the type of love He has for us. This love is costly and extravagant. It is worth more than diamonds or gold! And this sacrificial love was fully demonstrated by Christ’s willingness to carry our shame and to die for our sins on the cross of Calvary.
