“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.” Galatians 5:22-23
There is some truth (ok…quite a bit of truth! 
) in the old saying, “If Mama ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy.” Let’s face it…as wives and mothers we hold a big responsibility to set the tone of our homes. Our children quickly pick up on bad attitudes we have and begin to mirror them. If we’re grouchy when our husbands walk in the front door, they feel unloved and unappreciated. When this scenario represents our daily lives, our homes are not a haven of joy for our husbands, children, or friends. In fact, people will probably be looking for ways to get out of our homes!
The only way to have true joy fill our lives (and then spill over into our homes) is by being filled with God’s Spirit. Only christians, people dedicated to God, have access to a joy that stays constant no matter what physical circumstances surround them. A mother who is filled with God’s joy finds that her home and family will begin to mirror her attitude.
Practical Ways to Fill Your Home with Joy
1. Daily time in God’s Word – “You will show me the path of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy; at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” Psalm 16:11 As christian wives, mothers, and homemakers, we need to spend time at our Lord’s feet every day allowing Him to fill us with His joy and outlook on life.
2. Don’t focus on your circumstances – “My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.” James 1:2-4 Throughout the course of life, we will encounter various trials…both big and small. It’s hard to find joy during the rough times. And yet in this passage we are instructed to look beyond the trial and find joy in the fact that God is working to make us perfect and complete.
3. Choose to think on positive things – “Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy, meditate on these thing.” Philippians 4:8 We need to constantly guard the thoughts we let into our minds. What we think about is evidenced by our actions. If we want joy to be a constant theme in our homes, we must choose to only allow God-honoring thoughts in our minds.
4. Sing to the Lord – “Make a joyful shout to the Lord, all you lands! Serve the Lord with gladness; come before His presence with singing.” Psalm 100:1-2 Sing praises to the Lord, put in a CD of hymns, teach your children songs they can sing…we should fill our homes with God-honoring music. It is truly amazing how music (whether good or bad) can set the atmosphere in a home.
5. Live in the moment - We shouldn’t get caught up in the “if onlys”, “what ifs” and “someday in the future”. God gave us the present. He gave us our family and our homes to take care of and look after. Let’s not waste time fantasizing about what could have been or what might be. Let’s invest in our families and homes…today.
This post is linked to Growing Home, Women Living Well, and A Wise Woman Builds Her Home.
Just coming by after finding your comment on my blog and had to say YES! I took Beth Moore’s study on this topic in the fall of 2010 then led a different group through it last fall. I believe studying this was one of the Bible studies that changed me the most. Your points are all things that became habit for me after studying this passage during that time. May God bless you, continue to encourage others to be in His Word.