Why Beauty Matters
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[0 Comment]We bask in the beauty of the mountains, unwind in the peacefulness of canoeing on a pond together, exclaim the glories of a sunset. Yet, when it comes to decorating our own homes, Christian couples may fail to see a need for beauty and tranquility in their everyday surroundings.
Making your home a place where marriage and family relationships can be nurtured may seem like a daunting task. Tight finances, clutter that won't go away, and the clashing of you and your spouse's decorating styles can inhibit you from ever picking up a paintbrush or putting up wallpaper. Figuring out how to make your home a reflection of your lives together requires patience, planning, and a good dose of compromise.
For more than twenty years, professional interior designer Terry Willits has helped married couples see the God-given need for making their homes attractive—and given them practical tips on how to accomplish it. The author of Simply SenseSational Decorating (Zondervan) believes it is important to stimulate the five senses—touch, smell, sight, sound, and taste—to create an atmosphere that reflects a married couple's personal style. She strikes a positive balance between the stuff we decorate with and the end result—a warm, welcoming place to live in and grow our marriages.
In this interview with Marriage Partnership, Willits shares why she believes marriages can be enhanced, and God glorified, by creating peaceful, beautiful homes.
Why should married couples be concerned with how they decorate their homes? Isn't that a worldly thing for us to focus on?
Beauty not only matters to our Creator, he is the author of it. Understanding that God is a God of beauty, order, and detail, I realized that while seeking beauty alone in our homes is hollow, there is nothing wrong with enhancing our own dwelling places in a balanced fashion. When I look at the beauty God created in nature, the way he wondrously crafted the details of the world, I am overwhelmed with his love for me. By making my home orderly and attractive, I communicate my love to those who live under my roof.
So, it's about people.
People are the priority when we are decorating our homes. And people are attracted to beauty. You want your home to be a place that draws people in. We're not talking about spotlessness and perfection here, rather beauty, color, and light. Anything that communicates love and care.
How does this relate to marriage?
We want to create an environment that will draw our spouses home, to make home an attractive, orderly place. The end result is not creating a beautiful structure; rather, it is about making an atmosphere where lives are blessed. It's not about the stuff. It's about using the stuff to make a place where people and relationships grow.
Originally published in: Marriage Partnership, 2000, Winter
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