Random word: castle

I am starting something new this year and I have to thank Mary for this brilliant idea!! I will be using a word generator to pick a word to write about. If you would like to try it yourself, here is the link to the word generator that Mary recommended.  

Todays word is Castle.

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Castle: a large building, typically of the medieval period, fortified against attack with thick walls, battlements, towers, and often a moat. Usually consider it to be the private fortified residence of a lord or noble.

My home is not as big as a castle and it isn't surrounded by a moat (which of course would be heaps of fun but rather impractical), but I do like to think it is a place that protects us from attacks and shields us from the worlds violence and sadness. However this is becoming much more difficult. There was a time when our homes provided all the defence we needed against outside intrusions and influences. We could locked the doors, closed the windows and we felt perfectly safe, secure, and protected in our own little castle from the outside world. The physical walls, doors and gates of our homes can not longer protect us from unseen invasion from the Internet, the mobile phones and television. They can penetrate our homes with just a few clicks and keystrokes. Whilst all this technology is wonderful (and I use it often) we need to use it with care and not let it rule our lives and our homes. 

Many families with young children are now limiting the amount of access their children have to the internet and mobile phones and many are also reducing the amount of television being watched. We do not need to be constantly bottle fed the 24/7 news especially when much of the news is manipulated and fake or just sensationalism. 

We need to keep our homes peaceful and calm and not driven by social media, mobile phones and television. Modern technology has its place but should never control or take over our lives.

Our castle is our place of sanity, a place where we can escape the world, a place where your husband (the lord of the castle) and  yourself (the lady of the home) want to come home to and not be bombarded by the horrors of this world. 

As homemakers it is our responsibility to create a place like this and fortify our homes against the nasties that are in the world. However, this does not mean creating a prison. Prisons were found beneath  castles and certainly were not inviting or pleasant places to be. A castle on the other hand is a place where you can come and go, invite friends and family over and have wonderful times. It is a place of welcome for Christian and non-christian alike. It is place of joy and not a place where you shut out world and everyone else as well. 

I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth. As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world.

John 17:15-18