Being Busy in the Home

Remember the phrase “There is no place like home…There is no place like home” that Dorothy quoted in the Wizard of Oz after discovering what was “over the rainbow?” I’m sure many of us have found ourselves saying the same thing at times. I know I have. But would our families echo, “There is no place like home?”

God in His wisdom has mandated that women are to be busy in the home. Titus 2:4-5 encourages the young women to be homemakers (hard workers, working diligently and skillfully in the home)…or home guardians (caregivers and gatekeepers). Scripture also gives examples of godly women who worked in other settings beside their home. But it was never to the neglect of their families and their homes. You see the issue is that home must always remain the constant and ongoing priority in our lives. Our homes and families are to be our primary focus, as well as the primary beneficiaries of our energies and gifts.

Many of us tend to think that working in the home is about cleaning, cooking, doing laundry, and the endless other chores required to maintain a home. Yet in the midst of living life - dressing, eating, sleeping, working, changing diapers, kids doing homework,
watching television, working through conflicts, laughing, tucking children into bed - far more is happening than meets the eye.

While it is clear that we are to be about hard work, I believe the emphasis is not so much on which job a woman does around the house or how she oversees the upkeep of her home. God is not concerned about whether we are crafty or not. He doesn’t dictate whether we have hired help to clean our house or we do it ourselves, whether we bake cookies or buy them at the store, whether we iron our shirts or take them to the cleaners. Every woman has her own style, her own strengths and bents and her own situation to deal with.

The emphasis is really about “focus.” God asks that we focus our gifts and energies on the ministry of the home, to fix our hearts on; to set our sights upon; to think first; to direct our energies toward the home. God is calling us to fix our hearts on our homes with diligence and love. The people who live in our homes are to be our focus. If we create a beautiful museum in which our families cannot live, work or play freely, we have lost our focus. Children need to be able to use glue and scissors. Husbands need to be able to romp on the floor with their kids and teenagers need to be able to bring their friends home. We are to create an inviting atmosphere of love, joy and peace. A place we enjoy and where they will say, “There is no place like home.”

Again, we must remember that home is our place to enjoy; home is our place for ministry; home is our place to build and home is our place to manage. It is here we are to be hard workers, strong workers, cheerful workers, unselfish workers, and the Lord’s worker described in Proverbs 31.

Pause for a moment and ask yourself the following questions: Do you think your family would describe you as happy? Why or why not? What is one way you can grow in creating a joyful atmosphere in your home?

Join us this week as we look at what it means to be a home-worker.
~ Rhonda Calabello