Series help me focus. I'm a pretty scatterbrained person, so it's good for me to have something that helps me focus. So today we're starting a new series for Thursdays. No longer will I wake up on Thursday mornings and wonder what in the world to post about. I'll wake up instead, look at my messy home and wonder who in the world I think I am trying to write something about homemaking! But, alas... I'll have a focus.
I read some great blogs about homemaking periodically. Their authors are some of my homemaker heroines. These ladies post beautiful tutorials about cooking, decorating, cleaning, etc. They post lovely pictures of tablescapes, delicious recipes, and reviews of cleaning products. And they show you how to restore old furniture, turn vintage linens into curtains, and decorate with twigs from your shrubbery. One of my very favorites is Yvonne at StoneGable. So if you're looking for that kind of post on homemaking, I suggest you head on over there. It will be well worth the visit. Yvonne is a lovely, godly woman who happens to also know how to set a beautiful table, clean your fine linens, and cook up a crock of French onion soup. I adore her and her stunning blog!
But that's not what you'll get here. I make no pretense about being a talented decorator, a great cook, or the crafty type. Yes, I can sew and cook and decorate pretty well, but only because I follow the directions and inspirations of people like Yvonne. And my cleaning skills are not the most desirable either. I haven't gone green yet (gasp!) and my favorite cleaning method is the shove-everything-into-a-closet-and-make-things-look-tidy method. This is a cleaning tactic that buys you a great deal of time until the closet virtually explodes and then you simply take an hour or two to clean it out. I personally think it works.
So if I'm not offering cooking tutorials, tablescapes, pointers for cleaning green, or photos of my latest decorating venture, what exactly am I inviting you to each Thursday?
If you join me for Build My House Thursdays, you'll get my take on building a Psalm 127 house.
Unless the Lord builds the house,
They labor in vain who build it;
Unless the Lord guards the city,
The watchman keeps awake in vain.
It is vain for you to rise up early,
To retire late,
To eat the bread of painful labors;
For He gives to His beloved even in his sleep.
(Psalm 127:1-2)
As much as I may wish it were the case, I don't think this Psalm tells me to sleep in late, lie on the sofa all day, and go to bed early with dishes still in the sink. In fact, I know God's word teaches me in other scriptures to be industrious in my home, to keep my home diligently, and to open my home to others. So the psalmist isn't promoting slovenly housekeeping or minimal decorating. He's just reminding us to keep our priorities straight.
I think the psalmist is all for beautifully decorating your home, cooking delicious meals and even setting a pretty table. But he's reminding us that unless we build our home on biblical principles, God's character, and truth, we're just wasting our time with all the scrubbing and flower arranging and vacuuming and painting.
So each Thursday I'll be addressing how we can create homes for our families that effuse God's character, that reflect His glory and that give testimony to His plan for our salvation. We'll look at ways to display the fruit of His Spirit in our homes - love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control. And we'll discuss ways to give our guests and our family members a taste of His character by making our homes orderly, beautiful, inviting, peaceful, and full of love.
Next Thursday we'll get started, but for today I must move along. My in-laws are coming into town tomorrow and my college boy is coming home. I have stuff I need to put in my closets and a few closets that are bursting at the hinges and must be cleaned out!
Labels: Build My House Thursdays, family, mentoring
