Love Makes A House A Home

Hello!  It's a beautiful fall day here in the Yukon and I just wanted to share a little bit that has been on my heart as of late.  

Three years my family was blessed to move into this home.  It is a dream and I thank the Lord every day that He has placed us here.  Below are a couple pictures that a photography friend of ours took when we moved in.  

It is a beautiful house, but it wasn't a home until we entered and added our lives to it.  We brought in our things, not just stuff, but items of both need and want.  

Simple touches like homemade bedding, plants, lace curtains to adorn the windows.  A braided rug for in front of the kitchen sink.  A lace screen above the kitchen sink to keep the bugs out while enjoying fresh air. 

There are so many special touches that make a house a home, but the greatest is that of love.  

It's the moments shared amongst the inhabitants of the walls of a house that make a home.  The love of God in His word being shared and set out for all to read.  

This doesn't come about by accident...or by chance.  It is intentional.  

A woman's role as a homemaker is to cultivate these things.  Creating a place where needs are met, healthy food, clean spaces, and areas inviting for people to come gather.  Family, friend, or stranger.

Proverbs 31:27

"She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness."

This is a skill, a career, a calling that women have.  It needs to be taught, to be encouraged, to be cherished, and protected.  

In today's society, it's not.  Let us follow the Lord, and not the world.

Acts 20:34-35

"Yea, ye yourselves know, that these hands have ministered unto my necessities, and to them that were with me. I have shewed you all things, how that so labouring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive."

God is still calling the older women to teach the younger women to be keepers at home. 

In our home, it's the main teaching my girls receive.  Yes, they get their academics, but all in light of what God calls women to be.  

Titus Chapter 2: 3-5

"The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things;

That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children,

To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed."

A few years ago I found this book, and thought it was a great addition to what we were studying.  

There are many encouraging resources available for homemaking, but one must look for them. 

It's a textbook for Homemaking from the Department of Education in British Columbia. 

I remember Home Economics in school...what a great resource it is to encourage these skills.  

Of course with Homeschooling it happens naturally in our home.  I think it should happen in every home, skills that are not only necessary but greatly needed. I know young women who at the year they have graduated still are unknowing how to make their beds properly, wash dishes, or scrub a bathroom.  Older women, teach the younger women!  Mothers teach your daughters!    

It is an interesting book full of information on the basic things on keeping a home...food, furniture, cleaning, mending, etc...  But through it all, it made the importance of how these things were done that made a huge amount of difference.  Anyone can throw food on the table or toss laundry in the wash or put furniture in a room.  But it's the special touches, that attention to details and how it's done that create homeyness, or a welcoming restful environment.  Our homes need to be the safe, protected places where the inhabitants can be nurtured and rejuvenated.  

As women we are called to the role of homemaker, by none other than the Lord God himself.  

It's a blessing, it's where we thrive, where we are meant to be.  It's our ministry.

All the skills that we can acquire can be used in the bounds of this role/career. 

It is not the kind of home (physical place or type of structure) that is important, any space can be made into a home.  I know of a lady whose mother made them a very comfortable home out of a garage for a few years.  She said they didn't have much, but her mother made it into a special place none the less.  Clean and inviting.  

In all of these thoughts, I look around my home and thank the Lord for all that He has blessed me with.  It spurs me to do more at home, to cherish this role that I have, and to train my girls to do the same.  

Thank you for dropping by and reading my thoughts.  

Praying the Lord blesses you in your home today! 

Sharing with The Art of Homemaking Mondays.