Home a haven – RefreshHer

sept296-1

As I write this post, the windows are up, allowing the cool morning air to blow in, but the air isn’t the only thing coming in. There are also the sounds of the country drifiting into our house. I hear…

A tractor on the hillside

An occasional car

A bird’s song

Silence

These are all reasons I love living in the country! But there are sounds that happen inside our house, too. Many of them are intentional sounds that I pray will comfort those that enter and give them the sense of rest, and of a haven.

Quiet – How?
Be intentional.
- Turn the television off. Don’t use the television to buffer the silence. In many homes the television is turned on in the morning and plays all day long. The noise of commercials alone creates an atmosphere of confusion and chaos. Sometimes people are afraid of silence. But it’s in the quiet that we hear the Lord speak. In the quiet we can think, plan and concentrate. In the quiet we can meditate on Scripture or hum a song! It’s hard to do any of that if there’s something shouting at us as “background noise.”
Music – When?
- When guests come over – Having quiet doesn’t mean nothing can be on. I will often turn on Pandora Radio on my computer before guests arrive. I have a station of just instrumental music that I turn on softly so we can hear the music, but don’t have to shout over it. I think having on music that people might know will bring the words of hymns to their hearts and encourage them. It’s also a great testimony of your love for the Lord, just as a Bible verse hanging on your wall would do.
- During mealtime – When our girls were home, I usually always turned on a CD during supper. It wasn’t always sacred music, but it was usually just instrumental. There’s a dulcimer CD that when any of us hear it today, we associate it with the midwest home we lived in, simply because of the memory the music evokes! It’s such a reminder that even sounds are a sensory that God gives that can create a special atmosphere.
- At bedtime – If you have little ones at home, playing soft music as they drift off is a great way to quiet their hearts and help them sleep peacefully.
Humming – Who? You! When?
- While you clean, cook, fold laundry, make the bed, or drive.You get the idea. I have never heard my mom sing a solo in church, but even today when I visit her, I’ll hear her singing softly and it’s comforting to me. As she sings, I know that she is reminder herself of the biblical truths of that hymn. Eph 5:19 tells us to speak to ourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord. Singing and humming is reminding yourself of truth, but it is also a message to those that hear you.
Quiet speaking voices
- Bring the volume level down. If you respond quietly, it will set the tone. Proverbs 7 tells us that the strange women has a loud voice. As women, we should speak softly and expect the same from our children.
Laughter
- Give the good medicine of laughter. Learn to laugh at yourself – when you forget to put the salad out for supper and remember it the next morning at breakfast – when you have spinach in your teeth or you trip in front of a crowd. Laughter throws the cares of the world over your shoulder. Have fun and create fun in your home and laugh together!

Let your home be associated with peace and quiet, soft music, quiet voices, humming, and much laughter. What a haven you will give those that enter!

What sounds do you associate with home?

Denise Signature 150 px

Smells and aromas. They can be wonderful or horrible. How would your home be described? What’s the prominent aroma associated with it? Is it inviting or nose-wrinkling?

“Every time I smell bread baking, it reminds me of my mom!”

That’s what a friend told me just recently. Their mother died when they were young, but they still remember her when they smell the fragrant aroma of a yeast bread baking in the oven, because that was her specialty that she made for her family regularly.

When I was a child and I smelled coffee, I associated it with home and family get-togethers. My parents drank coffee each day, but coffee was also always perked when our relatives visited from nearby cities. When we children smelled the coffee being perked, we knew that our cousins would get to stay longer as our parents lingered over steaming cups.

It’s amazing how aromas can bring back sweet memories, isn’t it? A perfume, a candle’s scent, or bacon frying are all simple things, but ones that could be memory triggers. The key to creating a memory with a fragrance is using that aroma with an activity, routine or tradition.

For instance:

If Saturday breakfasts always consist of pancakes and bacon, when your child smells bacon they remember the relaxed, casual family times you shared together on laid back Saturdays.
The lavender sachets you put in your linen closet with your sheets will remind your family of bedtime, your family’s nighttime routine, and home.

What we do is simply make home smell like home. You can’t do that if you’re not there. Brilliant statement, right? But it’s true in its simplicity.

Here are some ways you can add fragrances to your home (or just keep it smelling fantastic).

Burn fragrant candles. It can make your home even smelled like you baked something with a “Sugar cookie” or “Red Velvet Cake” candle!
Plug in a Tart Warmer and you’ll have the fragrance without a flame. Here’s mine:

Use plug-in fragrances. These actually can work when you’re not there! My neighbor has these all over her house and it smells so good! Make sure to use ones that are either the same, or of the same “family.”
Clip car deodorizers to the inside vents inside your home. When the air blows, it makes the rooms smell wonderful.

Image result for yankee car deodorizers

Add drawer sachets where you store your sheets and blankets.
Simmer citrus fruits and herbs on the stove. Add cinnamon and cloves for fall and winter.
Slip dryer sheets in your dresser drawers to keep clothes smelling fresh.
Put lemon slices down your garbage disposal.
Bake something (even if it’s tubes of cookie dough or frozen bread loaves) before family comes home.
Add coffee beans around a vanilla candle. The two fragrances are wonderful!

coffee-candle

Add vanilla extract to your clean air filters. Go here to see a simple video.
All you essential oil lovers could also add an oil to your air filter, or hundreds of other places in your home! =)

Those are just a few of my suggestions. Now tell me how you add beautiful aromas to your home!

What is your favorite fragrance from your growing up years?

Make your home smell like a haven!