HOME

I was amused recently when I read an article stating that radical feminist were intrigued by some of the Mommy-Blogs because they painted pictures of home life that was beautiful, creative, happy, fulfilling all run by intelligent women who had made the decision that HOME was important. They were intrigued because they had never felt such a thing was possible, they had never experienced it themselves and so considered it only fantasy.

And yet now some bloggers are saying it really is possible and it is worth it! It simply requires a vision for a higher good, very hard work, unselfish ambition, skill development, unwavering commitment and the ability to stand firm before the massive artillery of the culture. And that is where the rub comes in. Did you read those words? VISION! WORK! UNSELFISHNESS! SKILLS! COMMITMENT! ARMOR of STEEL!

So as we look at the home, lets for just the rest of this article put aside the worldly agenda that screams that married women with children deserve to be in the work force, developing their career and that doing so is the highest good, Let’s instead for just a few paragraphs pretend that HOME IS the highest calling and can indeed produce the greatest good for humans, society and a nation.

Statistics prove that a large percentage of criminals had terrible home lives. The same holds true for drug addicts, alcoholics, prostitutes, and kids who drop out of school. Most all of the ills of our society can be traced back to the home life as a child. Divorce, once touted as being “benign” as far as children are concerned, is now showing up as a great cancer that humans who have suffered from have to endure in silence. Homes are frazzled with the constant racing from one place to another and the one word that describes two income homes is “overworked”. And probably one of the main things that has been lost with all this rushing and grabbing for significance is that true healthy significance can be found right at home with the family.

Devi Titus wrote an excellent book called The Home Experience. In it she builds a solid argument for dinner around the table. In fact she even goes so far as to say that there is a spiritual environment that is established when people eat a meal around a table together. Indeed I agree. In fact recent statistics prove that children who eat with the family around the table regularly are far less likely to get involved in addictions. But few families take the time, nor do many mothers have the skills to put a good meal on the table in the evening.

The flip side is that the home has the power to affect others for great goodness. It truly boggles the mind to think that the home can be a nursery for heaven. The Bible says a home can be filled with kindness and wisdom. It can be and should be well organized and secure, warm and inviting. And the Bible gives the responsibility of the home to the woman. In fact in Timothy she is referred to as the “OIKA DESPOTA”, the “CEO” of the corporation, the corporation of HOME.

So what can a home do? And by the way I am not talking about the home as simply a house that one stops by on their way to other things, one that is “lifeless”, full of stuff that is in total disarray, cereal for supper, clothes that have been abused and contention that pervades. I am talking about HOME as in well organized, comfortable, good food, clean beds and clothes, happy inhabitants, art and literature, culture and intellect, which displays calmness and beauty. In other words HOME is a refuge, a place of spiritual, emotional and physical restoration. Simply put, it can be and is the foundation of a nation. Home-working is not for the faint of heart if done right. It is certainly not for the lazy. It is the work of building a healthy family, a healthy society, indeed a healthy nation.

There are many people who have provided examples for me to follow and those examples have made a huge an impact on my life. My mom was certainly one of those homemakers. As I got older Betty Cannon served as another example. I remember the first time I went to her home. She truly introduced me to the concept of “comfortable beauty”. Scented candles that once seemed frivolous to my practical side, became a warm welcome in her home. A pile of magazines in a basket by an easy chair that was draped with an afghan would not have excited my intellectual mentality (small as it is) until I experienced it in her home. Then I was able to see it added to a sense of well being and comfort. A pot of homemade soup served up on a well set table filled my soul with calmness and good cheer and provided an environment for deeper conversation.

But Mrs. Cannon had something else. She LOVED home and LOVED those who entered. I loved every part of my time in her house. It always was wrapped around good simple food and a listening ear. She made a home. She was home and so much of that was built on the environment she created because she chose to make the effort.

So what did she gain? Well for starters she raised four fabulous kids who have now raised fabulous children of their own. Her husband loved and adored her until his last breath and a gazillion people had the privilege of knowing her and being refreshed and restored in the refuge she created. She left a legacy that could never have been created in the competition of career. She did it through those words we started with; VISION, WORK, UNSELFISHNESS, SKILLS, COMMITMENT, ARMOUR OF STEEL.

As I look around at the flailing culture that struggles for peace it makes me think that maybe there is an answer that perhaps we as women should give some consideration. Perhaps we might consider that it lies under our own roofs. Perhaps we should just go home …. and create a society changing environment, indeed a nursery for heaven.

Titus 2:4-5

Encourage the young women to love their husbands, love their children, to be sensible pure WORKERS AT HOME, kind being subject to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be dishonored.