Lisa Barry: I'm not sure what your day has been like, but maybe you've had a few run ins with your children because they're bored. Or could it be finances causing tension, or possibly it's a neighbor who's got you down? Well, no matter how your day started, I want to invite you to fifteen minutes of peace. It's not long, but it might be just what you need to realign your thoughts, perspectives and priorities.

Today on Gateway To Joy Elisabeth Elliot encourages us to live in peace, because it's an important element to cultivating a Christian home. Let's get started.

Elisabeth Elliot: Emerson said courtesy is "many petty sacrifices." Little things. You tell your children, "Take your elbows off the table. Don't chew with your mouth open." Those are petty sacrifices. You don't want to listen to that, but it's courtesy. I mean, who wants to see somebody else chewing something with their mouth open? "Many petty sacrifices."

2 Corinthians 5:15 says, "He died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for Him who died for them and was raised again." We are not to live for ourselves, but for Him who died for us and was raised again. A Christian home should be a place in which we understand that it is my life for yours. I will give up what I want to do today in order to help you do what you need to do. That may be necessary every now and then--my life for yours.

And of course, that's exactly what Jesus demonstrated every single day of His earthly life--My life for yours. And He was on His way, of course, to the cross. There will be crosses for all of us who truly want to know the Lord Jesus.

Ephesians 4:2-3 says, "Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace." Now, what does this come down to? These are Scriptures, and sometimes our children have a very hard time understanding what the Bible really says. And it's our job, of course, to teach them what the Bible says. Something like courtesy is an opportunity to teach your children the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace--quietness, for example.

If somebody is asleep upstairs...and usually in our family, since I am number two, it was almost always a younger child upstairs crying or needing to go to sleep, so quietness was required in our home. If somebody needed the butter at the breakfast table or the lunch table, we were not allowed to reach across and get the butter. We had to say, "May I please have the butter?" And the child on the other side was to pass the butter. We had to wait to eat. My father did the carving. My mother put the vegetables on our plates. But we were not allowed to eat anything until Mama picked up her fork, or my Daddy, whichever one. So we had to wait to eat. We were never to chew with our mouths open.

We were never to leave towels on the floor and toys all over the house. May I strongly recommend that if you have children who have toys, just let them know that there are certain places where toys can be and other places where they can't be. And they need to ask permission for each thing. And what about elbows on the table? You just feel so miserable and you're so tired and so you put your elbows on the table, and it certainly is not courteous. Cheerfulness would be the best thing.

Now number seven: Hospitality. Romans 12:13 tells us that we are supposed to be hospitable. It says, "Share with God's people who are in need. Practice hospitality." And I imagine there are some people in this room today who would say, "Oh, I would love to have hospitality, but we have such a small house so we can't have guests." Yes, you can. There is a way to do it. It doesn't matter how small or how meager the meal may be, it is possible to show hospitality. And the Bible is telling us that we are required to do that. "Share with God's people who are in need. Practice hospitality."

Now, my parents made a strong point of having many, many people come through our home. That's how I learned all these wonderful missionary stories, because we had forty-two countries represented in my mother's guest book. Over the years there were that many people who had come through our home. And so we kids could sit there and listen with our eyes getting wider and wider when we'd hear some of these wild stories that missionaries could tell us, but we loved having missionaries there.

And it says in 1 Peter 4:9, "Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling." And I think my mother was one of the very few women in our church who took it very strongly that we are all meant to show hospitality. And when she would try to encourage the younger women there to have guests in their home, almost invariably the answer was, "Our house is too small. We've got too many children." Or, "We don't have enough money."

Well, I grew up in the Great Depression and I can remember times when there really was not very much of anything to eat. Usually we could come up with something like macaroni and cheese. But there were people, of course, who were much worse off than we were. But even during the depression days my parents continued to have guests in our home and that meant a great deal to us.

When I look at that guest book with the forty-two countries I can think of many, many times that I remembered exactly who that person was. And what a tremendous blessing it was for us children to hear these missionary stories firsthand. So I strongly urge you to give some serious thought and prayer to hospitality.

Forget about whether everything in your house is perfect or whether it's the way you want it to be. Do the best you can. Ask your children to help you when you're ready to have some guest coming. And be humble enough to let people come and see your humble home. Don't make excuses. We can't do that and get away with it in God's economy. "Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling." Make it simple.

Number eight: Work. The offering of my consecrated will and my physical strength, that's what work ought to be--the offering of my consecrated will and my physical strength. I don't know what your work may be. I'm sure I'm looking at a lot of women who have to work. It's a good thing that you can come to a seminar on Saturday and, perhaps, leave behind the five days. But every one of us, in some way or other, has to work.

And when I lived with the Auca Indians in Ecuador it was amazing to me how hard those Indians had to work. The men and the women and the children had to work their heads off in order to survive. But I never heard them complain. They laughed all the time.

Remember in whatever stage you are in, whatever kind of work that God has given you, that you are serving the Lord Christ. Think about that! As I wash dishes I am serving the Lord Christ. As I am cleaning the bathroom I am serving the Lord Christ. As I am writing a book I am serving the Lord Christ. It's work. It's hard work and it's repetitive, but it's exactly what Jesus Himself had to do, wasn't it. When He was growing up, undoubtedly He worked as a carpenter with His earthly father. And then, when we know anything at all about His work, His life, from the age of 30 to about 33--He worked.

All work is hallowed. Remember that. All work is hallowed. It belongs to God. We can offer it to God, no matter what it is, no matter how difficult it may seem, or how trivial.

It's a wonderful thing to be able to teach your little children that when you pick up the toys and put them where they belong, Jesus is pleased. This is your work. Yes, you have to work--picking up things off the floor, putting away things, loving each other. My two youngest grandchildren, now, are six and, let's see, excuse me...seven and nine. I can hardly keep up with them. My daughter has eight children and the seven and nine year olds are the babies, as it were. And it's very interesting to me to see the dynamics between them. They really do love each other, most of the time, and it's nice to see that.

Some of you, perhaps, know the story of Brother Lawrence. He was a monk who wanted to learn to know God. And so he came to a monastery and was very surprised when he was immediately given a job in the kitchen. He was expecting that he was going to sit quietly in his monk's cell and meditate. And here he found himself in a hot messy kitchen with all kinds of people rushing back and forth and clattering and doing this and that and the other thing. And Brother Lawrence began to realize that it was in that very difficult place where people were shouting at each other and many things had to be happening all at once, it was there that he learned to love work.

And if you really hate work, I strongly urge you, in the name of Christ, to learn to love it and to thank God for the work he has given you. In 2 Thessalonians 3:10 it says, "If a man will not work, let him not eat." You might need to apply that to one of your sons some day.

"Aww, come on, Mom. I don't like this stuff that we have tonight."

"Well, you're going to eat that or you're not going to eat anything!"

1 Thessalonians 4:11-12 says, "Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent upon anybody."

Lisa Barry: Well, I hope you've been able to take down the practical ideas Elisabeth has been sharing today. It's always easier to hear a good idea, but it's a great deal harder to actually apply it. I'm not sure about you, but I'm a terrific gardener in the month of June, but right about now I start to get disinterested--weeds get tedious, pruning is overwhelming and watering seems endless.

Unfortunately, we often feel the same way about our Christian lives. Growth is sometimes tedious and it's hard to stay motivated. But I'm excited to tell you about a brand-new book written by Elizabeth George called A Woman's Walk With God. It's all about cultivating the fruit of the Spirit and it's a great follow-up step to what Elisabeth has been talking about this week. We're making the book available today to those of you who ask for it. And we would like to suggest a donation of $10 for that resource.

Our toll-free phone number is 1-800-759-4JOY. You can call any time day or night. 1-800-759-4569. If you prefer to write, our postal address is:

Gateway To Joy, Box 82500, Lincoln, NE 68501. That's Gateway To Joy, Box 82500, Lincoln, NE 68501. Or, you can dial up our Web site at gatewaytojoy.org. Gateway To Joy has been a production of Back to the Bible and is supported by the generous gifts of people like you.

Tomorrow Elisabeth talks about what it takes to be a true disciple of Christ. This is Lisa Barry. Thanks for listening! Let's meet back here tomorrow for the next Gateway To Joy.