Queen of the Castle ~ Week 2

Week 2 ~ Giving Homemaking Our Best

You can find the previous weeks HERE.

Have you ever been asked "What do you DO ALL DAY?"  How do you respond?

Lynn Bowen Walker says in the opening of Week 2:

"Being a homemaker in our culture is not a valued position.  Though the job involves incredible amounts of physical, mental, and emotional energy, it can still be trivialized by those who've never done it.  When our work isn't valued by others, it is only with great effort that we value it ourselves."

Those of us who run a home everyday have a thorough appreciation for the enormity of the task.  We know there is always more to be done.

To those who who have never attempted homemaking, it appears to involve no work at all.

Lynn suggests giving your special someone a few days of running your home.  The discovery of what a homemaker's job involves just might cause an attitude change.

Our culture makes those who work at home for no pay to answer the "do you work" question with a "no" and implies that we don't have a valid and valuable career.  We're then tempted to take on more public commitments than we can handle.

We need to be careful not to give away so much of ourselves to the community that we have nothing left for our homes.  Our families pay the price when we are overcommitted.

Dr. Mary Ann Froelich in her book "What's a Smart Woman Like You Doing in a Place Like This?  Homemaking on Purpose", states that we should seek God first, then care for our families and then serve the community.  So many of us are running our lives backwards.  We need to consciously give our families our best and not our leftovers.

"Our touch leaves an imprint that no one else can duplicate."

As we go about our lives as homemakers, we need to be careful not to compare our homes to those of others.  We are all different with different talents, interests, energy, children and priorities.

"Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit.  And there are varieties of ministries, and the same Lord."  I  Corinthians 12: 4-5

Lynn asks us to pray about our niche as a homemaker.  How will our home be unique?  We are each an original, made by God and our lives and homes will reflect that as we strive to do our best as we serve our families.

"Yet those that wait upon the Lord will gain new strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and not get tired, they will walk and not become weary."  Isaiah 40:31

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