A Home That is Ready

If someone knocked on my door at 8:00 on Saturday morning, would I be able to invite them in? What about at another time during the week? Am I ready to keep someone overnight if the need arose? How about having someone over for dinner at the last minute?

I have been very honest with you about my housekeeping skills. I was completely unprepared to keep a house when I got married. In college my roommates and I would all work together and get our apartment clean in no time flat. In fact, I never remember our apartment looking all that bad. I had one roommate who really liked to clean. When we first got married and had a tiny apartment, I was really good at cleaning it on Saturday mornings. I washed the clothes on weekends, too. That was pretty much what "housekeeping" was to me. That's how unprepared I was--I thought cleaning up on Saturdays was housekeeping.

Getting a house changed my opinon of that. It was so much bigger. I couldn't get it all done on Saturday anymore. Or at least it took more of my time. Add a baby or two to the mix and things really fell apart. It seems that working full time + caring for a baby= very little time to work on housekeeping stuff. There is a point where you get so behind that there is no keeping up. So you really don't even try anymore. It's so overwhelming you can't even tackle it. Then my husband would get fed up and go crazy cleaning. It made me sad when he felt like that because I knew I had failed him. A husband shouldn't hate the way his house looks. But, I was also grateful for the help. At least for a while things looked better!

Now I know people who work full time and their home is always impeccable. I don't understand these people, but I know them. I have also found out that a large percentage of people like this have a housekeeper come at least periodically. Those who don't mostly have houses that look like mine used to. I really believe that God intended women to stay home. Now I'm not going to get into whether women working is a sin blah blah blah. I'm just saying--God's original intent, in my opinion, was for women to keep the home. See Titus 2. Another verse talks about wives managing the home.

There is far more to managing a home than cleaning it, but let's start with the basics. I can LEARN to keep a house. There are books on this topic. The internet has thousands of sites with great information and encouragement on them. For me, I prayed that God would help me learn how. Getting my heart in the right place was the first step. Now, I am working to gain the skills I need. Homemaking is a lost art, ladies! Girls used to learn all this from their mothers before marriage. Well, God is powerful enough to help me. I will ask for wisdom and He will provide.

Here are some thoughts for you:
1. God is a God of order, not confusion. So how should a godly home look?
2. We should be ready to serve the Lord. Is my home ready if someone is in need?
3. Nothing we have came from us. Having a home is blessing, whether it is a rented apartment or a fine brick 2-story house. I should take care of the things God has given us.
4. We are designed to help our husbands. How does my husband like the house to look?

It seems like a small thing. There isn't a lot of glory in scrubbing toilets or floors. But God has called me to do it and so I will. And just maybe it will bless others, too.