Homemaking has been described as “a lost art”. “Art” is certainly not what comes to mind when most women think of homemaking. And yet, it really is a beautiful, wonderful art that, if cultivated early on, can blossom into a picture of servant-hood, adorned with the grace of our Savior, making our homes a beacon of light to all around us.
When a woman sees her homemaking role as something deserving to be honed, a skill to throw herself into, worthy, even, of her full-time attention, it becomes something radically different than chores, laundry and dishes. She sees potential for creating beauty, comfort, memories, for nurturing relationships–that crucial part of what makes life worth living, for building a place that doesn’t just house her family, but becomes a deep part of who they are and carries them for life. She understands that the home she makes can and most likely will drastically shape the people in it.
She understands her power and doesn’t take it lightly.
And when a woman embraces making home in that light, her daughters do too. They admire her position, want to be a part of it, to emulate this wonderful work they see that’s been given to their mother.
Don’t get me wrong…I’m not talking about viewing our role through rose-colored glasses where the floor is always clean and the children are always singing sweet songs while we float about the house and delight in the smell of laundry detergent.
Quite the opposite. I’m referring to a woman who, despite the hardships of keeping a home running, can see the joy of it all underneath, and is able to maintain a long-term vision, knowing that serving is glorious, if only in the eyes of the Lord, and when we feed and clothe and work for “the least of these” we do it for the King Himself.
And it’s in that profound truth that we plant ourselves and maintain our joy and stamina.
Do you want your daughters to delight in serving, to delight in the idea of pouring themselves out for their families? We must let them see us delight in it, and they will follow our zeal.
It blesses me to watch my girls. My 16-year-old has a terrific balance of “rolling up her sleeves” and just doing the hard work, and then looking back on the work and feeling a deep satisfaction about it, knowing that she made an eternal investment. In between the work that has to be done, she has found great satisfaction in learning all sorts of things from studying medicinal herbs which can help heal and protect our family, to treating our farm animals for their ailments, to learning about gardening and its health benefits and the savings it is to our budget. She enahances our family with her various interests in music and the arts and has found that centering herself in our home has opened up more opportunties than she could hope for elsewhere.
My 9-year-old is coming behind her, with the sweetest eagerness to serve her family. She begs to cook meals by herself, she volunteers to bathe the baby and she gets a thrill out of lighting candles, arranging things on the table and making her home beautiful. She loves home and all its freedoms to express herself while blessing those around her too.
And might I add, it is only by His grace that I am able to watch them flourish so. There are many days, I’m afraid, that I do not cast the vision of joy and gratitude. I’m so thankful He covers me and grows them in spite of my shortcomings.
This is big work and they know it and they want to be a part of it.
Let’s be challenged to check our vision of homemaking and see that we pass it to them!
By Kelly Crawford, Generation Cedar
