So what’s been going on here? I’ve had some folks ask about Cracked Pot Pieces and why it’s been silent for a while. Well for the last month or so, I have been writing, just in another forum. I recently went back to school. I know, I was surprised, too! Back last January, God gave me a vision for my future and to see that vision come to pass, I was going to have to go back to school after twenty-five years. Let me tell you, it’s pretty intimidating. But, I am four weeks in, and so far so good! I hope to finally be regaining a bit of balance, so my postings here will be more frequent.

This vision I have for my future is a new thing for me. I’m not used to having God show me a vision just for me. Generally, the visions I have for my life include my husband and family. How about you? Do you have visions for your life?

I have a great friend and mentor that speaks such life into my life. If you don’t have one of those, at least one, then get one. My friend once shared a story with me about a young wife who was struggling to make her work life balance with her new home life and husband. The young woman asked my friend how she managed it all. My friend asked her this, “What is the vision for your home?”

So many of us just let life decide what is going to happen to us. We just wait to see which way the ball bounces or how the cookie crumbles. We take things as they come without really deciding what we want things to look like, and then we are surprised when we wake up one day and nothing looks like we really thought it would. Then we look around and try to decide whom we want to blame for the mess we’re in.

We have to have a vision for what our life, home, marriage, and family will look like one day. And then we must be intentional about getting there. Okay, I’ll share mine with you. I have always wanted my home to be a place of peace, joy, and refuge for all who live and visit there. So I am intentional about creating that kind of space for my family and me.

I don’t get angry much, until someone goes and messes with my nest, my vision. Why? Because the atmosphere I have cultivated in my home has not happened over night, and it has not been easy. My enemy does not like the vision I have for my home, and he wants to foil my plans. Sometimes people want to work in opposition to my vision as well. As my Granny used to say, “I don’t cotton to those kinds of people.”

The Bible tells us that whatever we sow, that shall we reap also. (Galatians 6:7) Most of the time we use that verse when we see someone suffering from a bad decision they have made in their lives. After all, that’s pretty much the context for the scripture. But the reverse is also true. If we sow and cultivate good and beneficial things into our lives, generally, that’s what we get back.

So if I want peace in my home, I have to sow peace. If I want joy, I have to sow and cultivate joy. I can’t deposit anger, wrath, and judgment and expect to get peace and joy. It just doesn’t work that way. My Pawpaw would not have planted corn on his farm and expected turnips to grow. He knew what would be coming up in every field he planted because he was very intentional in what he sowed into the ground. He was careful to cultivate the ground and provide the right ingredients at the right time to reap the harvest he hoped for. Scripture also tells us that without vision, we perish. We have to know what we are working for to know how to set our hands to the plow.

I have this little ornament that hangs in my kitchen window. I decided a few years back that I would place it there rather than pack it away with the rest of the Christmas ornaments. It stands as a reminder of the vision I have for my home. How about you? Do you have a vision for your home? Your marriage? Your life? What are you doing today to bring that vision to pass?