Making a sanctuary
I am a homemaker.
I admit to struggling at times with the role that I have. I feel the lack of societal approval or affirmation. I acknowledge that there have been times when I would like to give myself to a more "worthy cause". I have found the days long with the weary training of little ones, the constant mess in the house and the regular surfacing of the less lovely parts of my character.
Is this what it means to make a home?
Idly flicking through Country Living yesterday I had fantastic imaginations about the home that I could build. I saw beautifully restored farmhouses with perfectly placed antiques. The children were clean and smiling. If my home looked like this, would I have succeeded in the task placed before me to be a homemaker? The constant bombardment of images that are unreal make us feel so inadequate as mothers. No-one has a house that is a continual show home and should that really be the goal anyway? I think of my boys scowling when I call them in for dinner after an afternoon of playing in torn jeans, digging holes next to the driveway. The ensuing arguments because they don't like dinner. The dirt tramped across the 14 year old stained carpet. This is my reality and I have to learn to love in this place where we are all imperfect and all that we live in is imperfect.
Imperfect but beautiful in its own way.
If we lived in "perfection" there would be no need to grow in love. The weather would always be perfect, adding joy to our already good mood. The cat would never shed hair. I would always be happy and sanguine.
Life is messy and so by virtue of that fact, being a homemaker is about cleaning up messes - wiping tears off faces, picking up broken crackers on the couch, saying sorry when my messy emotions make a mess of someone else's. Actually, this is what being a homemaker is about. We lean into love and learn to become more lovely and shine that love into the hearts of others around us.
It is all about love.
Then it occurred to me, making a home is one of the highest callings we can have. Our body is, in fact, a home to the Creator of the Universe. We make ourselves a sanctuary for Him. He is not looking around for a perfect place to reside, He wants to live in a home where He is loved. That is what the Holy God wants. It is astounding that the God of All Things wants us to love Him in a beautiful act of surrender where we welcome Him to abide in our home. We invite him to live with us in our weakness and imperfection, and He says "yes".
Knowing that the Eternal One enjoys us in our weakness, it inspires me to boldly say "Yes!" to the call to make a home full of love for the imperfect ones that have been entrusted into my care.
Building a sanctuary of love. That, my friends, is homemaking.
I admit to struggling at times with the role that I have. I feel the lack of societal approval or affirmation. I acknowledge that there have been times when I would like to give myself to a more "worthy cause". I have found the days long with the weary training of little ones, the constant mess in the house and the regular surfacing of the less lovely parts of my character.
Is this what it means to make a home?
Idly flicking through Country Living yesterday I had fantastic imaginations about the home that I could build. I saw beautifully restored farmhouses with perfectly placed antiques. The children were clean and smiling. If my home looked like this, would I have succeeded in the task placed before me to be a homemaker? The constant bombardment of images that are unreal make us feel so inadequate as mothers. No-one has a house that is a continual show home and should that really be the goal anyway? I think of my boys scowling when I call them in for dinner after an afternoon of playing in torn jeans, digging holes next to the driveway. The ensuing arguments because they don't like dinner. The dirt tramped across the 14 year old stained carpet. This is my reality and I have to learn to love in this place where we are all imperfect and all that we live in is imperfect.
Imperfect but beautiful in its own way.
If we lived in "perfection" there would be no need to grow in love. The weather would always be perfect, adding joy to our already good mood. The cat would never shed hair. I would always be happy and sanguine.
Life is messy and so by virtue of that fact, being a homemaker is about cleaning up messes - wiping tears off faces, picking up broken crackers on the couch, saying sorry when my messy emotions make a mess of someone else's. Actually, this is what being a homemaker is about. We lean into love and learn to become more lovely and shine that love into the hearts of others around us.
It is all about love.
Then it occurred to me, making a home is one of the highest callings we can have. Our body is, in fact, a home to the Creator of the Universe. We make ourselves a sanctuary for Him. He is not looking around for a perfect place to reside, He wants to live in a home where He is loved. That is what the Holy God wants. It is astounding that the God of All Things wants us to love Him in a beautiful act of surrender where we welcome Him to abide in our home. We invite him to live with us in our weakness and imperfection, and He says "yes".
Knowing that the Eternal One enjoys us in our weakness, it inspires me to boldly say "Yes!" to the call to make a home full of love for the imperfect ones that have been entrusted into my care.
Building a sanctuary of love. That, my friends, is homemaking.
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