Homesteading: A Woman's Journey

House-work or Home-making?

Do you see the household tasks that you do as house-work or as home-making?  Both involve the same tasks and responsibilities.  Both include everything from meal preparations to doing laundry & cleaning toilets.  The difference though is what is in our hearts as we go about the tasks.

I can't count the number of times I have read posts on various forums and blogs complaining about how the authors hate doing house work.  Complaints about husbands and children who dirty things as fast as the wife/mother cleans, or husbands & children who don't help out with the cleaning as often or as efficiently as the wife/mother feels it should be.  Dear Sisters, I want to share something that has been on my heart for a long time.  Each task that we do to maintain our homes and care for our family can be a chore that must be done, or a blessing that we can do for our family.  It all comes down to our attitude and what is in our hearts.

When you see your dinner table with the remains of the meal, dirty dishes, and such do you see yet another chore that you have to do?  Or do you look at the table with a sincere humble gratitude to the Lord for the blessing of your family having been fed & having the blessing of being able to share that meal with your family all together around that table?  Do you make the beds with the gratitude in your heart to the Lord for a warm sheltered place for your family to lay their heads at night?  Do you do laundry thanking the Lord for each piece of clothing that your family has to wear? 

The Lord has blessed each of our families greatly.  Each time we have a meal to eat, shelter, clothing, and so much more, the Lord is blessing us.  Do we show our gratitude or do we complain and gripe at having to take care of it all?

Saying that we do "house work" implies a chore that must be done.  When we say we are "home makers" we give a completely different view.  We are stewards over the blessings the Lord has so graciously given to our families.  We humbly tend to the needs of our family.  Tending the home that our husband has with the Lord's blessing provided is our way of showing gratitude to our husband for his hard work as well as showing graitude for the blessings from the Lord.

As mothers, are we setting the example to our daughters to work with a grateful heart?  Or are we complaining and laying the foundations for her to also show ingratitude not only to her father but her future husband?  If we treat the tending of the home & caring for the family's needs as being a chore, I can guarantee that our daughters will carry on that same attitude.  Are we taking seriously our role in teaching our daughters what a helpmeet is? 

I pray that we all can take an honest look at our hearts.  That we can gain, through the Lord's grace and blessing, the ability to perform our tasks as a helpmeet, mother and homemaker with an attitude of gratitude.

May the Lord's blessings be with thee.

Paula

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11:52, Monday, August 11, 2008 .. Posted by gabbie427

This is a wonderful post!!!! I agree.....I have been catching myself saying Household Chores, out of habit, but trying to break myself from it. I like the term home maker, or using my home making skills, etc. I amd the manager or our home and I love taking care of my family by cooking, cleaning washing, putting away, etc. I take pride in the work I do with our finances, the grocery shopping, etc. And I also believe it shows respect for my hubby and my family!!!! I love my job!!!!

Thanks for posting this!!!! I undeniably used to be one of the gals who whined and complained about the work, the chores, the hubby leaving his dirty socks, etc. But I have found the more I do for my family, the more they do for me as well!!!

God's Blessings,
Amy Jo

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12:02, Tuesday, August 12, 2008 .. Posted by oklamouse

I remember long ago I over heard a woman at church complaining about her husband always dropping his dirty socks on the floor bedside the hamper and not in the hamper. A younger dear sister made a quiet comment that stopped the woman in her tracks. The young sister was recently widowed and made the gentle reminder that she (the younger sister) wished she still had the priviledge of picking up her husband's dirty socks. I have never forgotten it. How true it was! We may have the thought to complain about the kids' dirty bedrooms or the husband's dirty socks, but one day we won't have children at home to pick up after. We may out-live our husband and not have his dirty laundry to pick up. When that day comes, how important is it really that they caused us a few extra minutes of tasks to do? Do we really need to complain or should we thank the Lord for having a family to take care of and pick up after?

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12:53, Tuesday, August 12, 2008 .. Posted by backtotheland

That was a wonderful post Paula and you are absolutely right. I would love to have the opportunity to have my kids sitting around the dinner table again but they are all pretty well grown now, two are in a totally different state, one here is married and the other is a teenager here and isn't home much due to school activities. I really miss the opportunity to cook meals for them see them enjoy the things I cooked.

So true

05:44, Monday, August 18, 2008 .. Posted by Tiffany

You are absolutely right. Thank you for this post and reminding us all that we are incredibly blessed to be able to be SAHMs and that we need to remember that when we get frustrated with the daily things that seem so menial to us. I was thinking this morning how annoying it is that my hubby never seems to put anything away. But if he weren't here at all, I wouldn't know what to do with myself. I must remember to pray that God helps me be a better home maker and to always be thankful for those incredible blessings He has put in my life.

Tiffany
http://www.NoOrdinaryHomestead.com