1- Our ancestors are a deep part of us.  Not only those we know or 
remember, but those from far into our  past.  Their beliefs and ways 
are a deeper part of ourselves than we realize.  Even though we 
may not approve of all their ways, there are other parts of our 
heritage that have brought us positive traits and attitudes.  
An item or two on a shelf or a picture hanging on a wall can 
remind us of our roots and will honor those who came before us.

Perhaps you will decide to make a photo gallery in your hall
showing your family over the years.  As we show our children 
photo albums and tell them stories about our families we become 
a part of that legacy that flows from generation to generation.

2-We all need kinfolk, those people who touch our lives on a regular 
basis. We need to spend time with people of all ages.  This is the 
natural order of things that has been lost in our culture.  May of 
us live far from our families.  The time we can be together with 
them are precious but often infrequent. We may want to develop 
friendships with people nearby as well, people who are young and 
old as well as close to our own age. 

How can you create places and ties in your home to include these 
people? Are there some elderly people who might enjoy coming for 
dinner after church?  Do you have friends with children who would 
appreciate your taking them for some special activity while they get 
away for a while?  If you already have all ages living in you home, 
how can you enhance your time together?

3-Families have traditions and they are usually a part of our home. 
Traditions are not just about the way we spend Christmas or Easter 
though those may be  important to us.  I am also talking about 
the little traditions like how we celebrate when someone has 
accomplished something, how we spend our vacations,  how we 
honor important steps in each individual's life.  

Take a look at the traditions that you carry out in your home.  
Don't judge yet. Simply write down what you do for holidays, 
accomplishments, losses.  Then look at what you have written.  
How many of those things are done a certain way because that 
is the way it has always been done in you or your spouse's family? 
How many new traditions have you created?  Then sort through 
all this and decide which traditions are truly meaningful to you.  
Which do you want to keep?  What would you  like to change?

4-Life is ever changing.  Children grow up, grandparents pass away.  
We change jobs  perhaps out of our own choice, perhaps not.  There 
is a difference between honoring our past and clinging to it. Pictures
on the wall, videos and letters saved is a far different thing than 
keeping a bedroom just like it always was for a child who has 
grown up and moved away.

Go through your house and consider what you are keeping. 
Which things are you keeping because you think you must, 
or are clinging to, or simply haven't bothered to get rid of? 
We need to clean out the old to make room for the new.  
Life and families involve growth, not staying in one place.  
As we clean out old unused and unappreciated objects we 
clean out old attitudes.  In this way we enhance the growth 
of everyone living in our home.