Domestic Violence! I know it’s a grim subject, but a subject we all need to know about. It’s a Jungle Out There! – Don’t Bring The Jungle Home Dude! Chances are, you know someone who is abused or you may even suspect a relationship, even your own, may be vulnerable to domestic violence.

That’s why we need to know how to steer away from it. It’s been said that without a plan, success is accidental. That’s why we need to have a plan to keep Abuse from showing its ugly head in your relationships. Please share this with friends and family. Their lives may be altered by what they read here.

Symptom Finder

Sorrow!

Afflicted!

Troubled!

Hatred!

Strife!

Disappointed!

These are all synonyms for stress and tension. They represent those times when the string gets too tight and then it snaps! It’s like a guitar string that can snap if it is too tight. Or like a balloon seems fine, it looks like it can take a little more air, then boom! In this same way, some families are like a volcano. It seems so nice on the outside but beneath the surface there is fire!

Turn on the TV and you hear about Terrorist attacks, that the economy is getting worse, and that life gets more and more expensive, so the list goes on and on. These are stressful times in which we live. And almost everyday you hear about another home where the string has snapped. We used to say it’s a jungle out there. Now we have to say, it’s a jungle in here! So what’s a man to do about all this stress? Here is the second thing I recommend.

Cultivate Contentment!

Imagine the following scenario;

A man is driving down a neighborhood street. He pulls up to a little frame house in an old car. His kids run to meet him and are full of excitement to see daddy. He enters the house and the house is filled with the aroma of fried chicken and okra. There is no tablecloth, just place-mats. There is no china, just mismatched dishes and some are chipped. The table is set with stainless steel silverware and paper napkins. After dad sits down at the table, dad reaches out and they all hold hands, he thanks God for their love and the food. And then they dig in! They don’t eat in a formal dining room, they eat in the kitchen, but it rings with laughter as they tell about their day: Eddie made the soccer team! But the dog chewed one of his favorite toys.

Now imagine this other scenario;

A man is driving down a neighborhood street. He pulls up to a mansion with white columns out front. This dad pulls up in a BMW and as he gets out of the car, he kicks the cat out of the way. No one comes out to meet him, they’re all in their rooms watching their private TV’s, playing on their X-Box or Nintendo. When it’s time to eat they gather in this long formal dining room. The table is decked up with the best china, crystal glasses, and a tablecloth. The servants bring out hors d oeuvre’s, appetizers, soup du jour, salad, smoking roast. Dad eats as fast as he can, he is preoccupied, he is thinking about work. Mom has a face like a hatchet, she just knows he’s messin’ around with that secretary. All the while their surly, rebellious teenagers say nothing unless it’s sarcastic and cutting.

Choose your jungle

Which of these homes would you like to have?

The first one, of course! Well I agree!

If you want to have a happy home, you have to cultivate contentment. You need to live within your means or the financial stress will kill the spirit of your home and you don’t need that.

God’s word tells us that “Better is a dinner of herbs…”

I want to encourage you not to get on the treadmill of materialism, it doesn’t take you anywhere! (if only we had a bigger, nicer house or a newer car! If you’re not happy with what you’ve got now, you won’t be happy when you have more stuff either).

Phil. 4:11
Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.

Thankful

My family and I are blessed with a nice house, and some nice things! Our house is modest, but nice. but you know, we’re no happier than we were in that small one bedroom  apartment, driving that little VW GOLF with 180,000 miles on it! Now each of our cars are upgraded. We’re thankful for what we now have, but we know it doesn’t bring happiness!

In Luke 12:15, Jesus said:
Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.
I Tim. 6
6 But godliness with contentment is great gain. 7 For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. 8 And having food and raiment let us be therewith content. 9 But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition.

Cultivate contentment!

I know many people today have to work 2 jobs, and many hours, just to make ends meet and that’s ok, I’m not talking about making a living, and providing the basics. I’m talking about the tyranny of things, that prompts some people to go out seeking more money to buy more things, or to pay off what they already bought on credit, when they should be out in the yard teaching that little boy to throw a baseball, or reading that book to that little girl.

But many have to keep up with the Joneses’. So we end up buy things we don’t need, with money we don’t have, to impress people that we don’t like! STOP the madness. Like I said before,  It’s a Jungle Out There! – Don’t Bring The Jungle Home Dude!

So, learn to laugh and cultivate contentment. This will help keep you from the jaws of death that Domestic Abuse has on so many families. Try it, you have nothing to lose and everything to gain!