Heart of the Home
When I was growing up, during the week, my father always made supper because he got home quite a bit earlier than my working mother and he didn't want to wait on his supper. On weekends, the job fell in her lap.
My father was an accomplished cook. He didn't use recipes, but with just a taste he could detect what was needed. My mother, as I recall, was more of a "cookbook" cook. I don't remember ever comparing the two and deciding one was a better cook than the other. But I am fairly certain there was nothing about my father's cooking that was inferior to my mother's.
I never gave it any thought, really. This was "normal" in my house. I will say, though, that on Sundays we came home from church and Mom did the cooking. Somehow, that just seemed right to me, though I can't tell you why.
Later, my parents divorced and put about an hour and a half distance between my father and me. I didn't visit very often, but when I did, it was sobering. In spite of the fact that my father could cook, he obviously didn't do much of it anymore. His kitchen table was always littered with unwholesome snacks, which, at least it appeared to me, is pretty much what he lived on.
I couldn't have put it into words then, but his home had lost it's heart. It was just sad and empty and dark.
My sister-in-law and her husband split at the end of last year. I'm told he is now living with his mother. I have not visited her since he left, but I know something already. It will seem a little odd that he is missing, but there will still be a heart in their home.
We've already been with her at family functions and there is still an "intactness" there, unlike my brother-in-law and his family. His wife left him several years ago, and still I sense this emptiness, this incompleteness.
It's not surprising, really. When God made Eve, he said it was to complete Adam. He also instructed women to be keepers at home. Sadly, some women are either unaware of this or have just decided life is better out in the fast lane. They're busy promoting themselves and leaving their husbands and children to fend for themselves.
Homemaking, after all, is for the uneducated, dull women who can't achieve anything out in the "real world". Don't you know they sit on their couches every afternoon watching soap operas and eating bon bons?
Ladies, if you find everything outside of your home to be more interesting and more fulfilling than the things inside your home, ask God to give you a revelation concerning your importance to your family. And don't buy into the magazine mentality concerning food, entertaining, and decorating.
Lastly, don't compare yourself to "real" ladies. I once had a friend that could have easily used her home as a bed and breakfast. Everything was neat, clean, and orderly. While we visited, we didn't have milk and cold cereal for breakfast. We had three cooked meals a day! She was amazing.
Her husband, however, was heavily involved with the Gideons and she lamented that she just wasn't the right wife for him because of that. She is rather timid. She wanted to be more like me! All the while, I was feeling rather intimidated by her accomplishments.
There are a myriad of reasons why you are "perfect" for your family. You may enjoy filling your home with good reading materials or good music. You may love keeping a flower garden that beautifully accents your home. You may love entertaining people or decorating cakes for special events. Your basement may have shelves lined with home canned items. Perhaps you take special pride in getting your family's laundry clean.
Whoever you are, celebrate you and your contribution to your family. And even if your family never seems to notice or care, believe that you truly are the heart of your home, because you are.
My father was an accomplished cook. He didn't use recipes, but with just a taste he could detect what was needed. My mother, as I recall, was more of a "cookbook" cook. I don't remember ever comparing the two and deciding one was a better cook than the other. But I am fairly certain there was nothing about my father's cooking that was inferior to my mother's.
I never gave it any thought, really. This was "normal" in my house. I will say, though, that on Sundays we came home from church and Mom did the cooking. Somehow, that just seemed right to me, though I can't tell you why.
Later, my parents divorced and put about an hour and a half distance between my father and me. I didn't visit very often, but when I did, it was sobering. In spite of the fact that my father could cook, he obviously didn't do much of it anymore. His kitchen table was always littered with unwholesome snacks, which, at least it appeared to me, is pretty much what he lived on.
I couldn't have put it into words then, but his home had lost it's heart. It was just sad and empty and dark.
My sister-in-law and her husband split at the end of last year. I'm told he is now living with his mother. I have not visited her since he left, but I know something already. It will seem a little odd that he is missing, but there will still be a heart in their home.
We've already been with her at family functions and there is still an "intactness" there, unlike my brother-in-law and his family. His wife left him several years ago, and still I sense this emptiness, this incompleteness.
It's not surprising, really. When God made Eve, he said it was to complete Adam. He also instructed women to be keepers at home. Sadly, some women are either unaware of this or have just decided life is better out in the fast lane. They're busy promoting themselves and leaving their husbands and children to fend for themselves.
Homemaking, after all, is for the uneducated, dull women who can't achieve anything out in the "real world". Don't you know they sit on their couches every afternoon watching soap operas and eating bon bons?
Ladies, if you find everything outside of your home to be more interesting and more fulfilling than the things inside your home, ask God to give you a revelation concerning your importance to your family. And don't buy into the magazine mentality concerning food, entertaining, and decorating.
Lastly, don't compare yourself to "real" ladies. I once had a friend that could have easily used her home as a bed and breakfast. Everything was neat, clean, and orderly. While we visited, we didn't have milk and cold cereal for breakfast. We had three cooked meals a day! She was amazing.
Her husband, however, was heavily involved with the Gideons and she lamented that she just wasn't the right wife for him because of that. She is rather timid. She wanted to be more like me! All the while, I was feeling rather intimidated by her accomplishments.
There are a myriad of reasons why you are "perfect" for your family. You may enjoy filling your home with good reading materials or good music. You may love keeping a flower garden that beautifully accents your home. You may love entertaining people or decorating cakes for special events. Your basement may have shelves lined with home canned items. Perhaps you take special pride in getting your family's laundry clean.
Whoever you are, celebrate you and your contribution to your family. And even if your family never seems to notice or care, believe that you truly are the heart of your home, because you are.
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