HOME-making


Madame Vigee-Lebrun and Her Daughter, Jeanne-Lucie-Louise (1780-1819) 1789
You can get this print at www.art.com

A great deal of stress and worry was lifted off my shoulders when my husband made it clear that a perfectly neat home and stressed out wife and cranky kids were NOT what he wanted to come home to. He'd be much happier coming home to a happy wife and kids and just a clear path to his favorite chair where he receives the kisses and embraces of a wife, a son, a daughter and a 50 pound dog who thinks she's a lap dog.

For some reason it was ingrained in me that a home isn't happy unless it is clean and tidy. Granted, a perpetually dirty and disorganized home can and does cause added stress, grief and even illness, it shouldn't be our number one goal to mop the kitchen floor every day while our children look to us for attention.

My husband didn't marry a HOUSEKEEPER. He married a HOMEMAKER! My job is to make a home and that entails more than just outward tidiness. Frankly, that's a never-ending goal that's never reached.

If you truly want to clean house, then start with who you are as a wife and mother before God. (Or just wife if you haven't any children yet). Then let us work on how we treat, care for, love and nurture our husbands and children. It is much more important to spend the time correcting a misbehavior in a child or soothing the sore back of our hardworking husbands than it is polishing silver. It is of far greater value to utilize hospitality and welcome a needing person to dinner than it is to close up the house to guests because it isn't "perfect" enough. If you want to clean house, purge it first of all that is contrary to the Lord whether it be item, deed, action, thought or word.

Sure, we should make our homes comfortable. Sure, we should not ignore the blessing of the home God gave us and our husbands work so hard to provide. Just like we should dress appropriately for serving the Lord, our homes should reflect our service to the Lord. But again I urge you not to be a housekeeper, but a homemaker.

Comments

Jessica said…
Well said! As much as my husband likes to see the toys cleared off the floor, if it's at the expense of our family harmony, then it cost too much!
8:50 PM
Drew said…
What a great post! Thank you for sharing!!

Andrea
3:17 PM
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