“No other success can compensate

for failure in the home.”

– David O. McKay

This is one of Mama’s greatest guiding principles. She shared this with me when I was having a personal crisis one time. It was a quote I reflected on for a long time. I tried to understand it deeply, wondering how true this quote could be. After about three weeks of prayers and reflecting on this quote, I have come to believe in it. This is now also one of my guiding principles in life. I cannot imagine being happy and contented with life if I had strained relationships with my family and loved ones. I cannot imagine coming home to a dirty and messy home. Now I understand when they say “Home is where the heart is.” A happy home makes my heart happy.

I’m not a big fan of New Year’s resolutions, but I will make this my personal guiding principle for 2005. H and I will strive to make my home more “homely” — physically, emotionally, spiritually, intellectually.

Physically, we will try to keep it as clean and organized as we can, to keep it cozy or make it even cozier. We will try our best not to leave unwashed dishes in the sink. We will try to be more physically active, to put our exercise videos and rubber shoes to good use.

Emotionally, we will continue to leave negative thoughts and energies at the doorstep. Our home is our sanctuary. We will continue to fill it with happy thoughts and energies. We will think before we speak so as not to hurt other’s feelings. We will listen to each other more. We will continue to be best friends and nourish our relationship as husband and wife.

Spiritually, we will try to strengthen our faith. We will continue to recognize the power of prayer and build our relationship with God. Though we are strong in faith individually, we feel we can do more in serving God together.

Intellectually, we will keep each other from being idle and sedentary. We will acknowledge our need for relaxation and quiet moments but will not abuse such free time. We will strive for personal growth and developing our talents. We will support each other’s passions and continue to empower ourselves as a team.

This guiding principle calls for a lot of effort. Combining this with the 21-day habit-building idea, I believe that we can give our home even more heart. I have a good feeling about this year.

Hi! I'm Toni Tiu, and I've been blogging at at Wifely Steps since 2003. This started as a blog to help newly weds adjust to married life. It has evolved into a home and parenting blog. I write about things close to my heart -- good eats, good reads, family, marriage, and the little things that make everyday happy.