A heart fixed on the home

We are experiencing a beautiful week here in NC.  We may even see 80* before the end of the week.  The forecast in the paper for the next 5 days was nothing but sunshine!  This "solar-powered" girl just loves the sun.  Everything around us looks so beautiful.  Our property is lined with Bradford pear trees - they are beautiful year round, but the tiny white flowers this season are exquisite.  Daffodils are happily blooming and the hyacinths and tulips are not too far behind them.

It is a great week for getting laundry done ... without the dryer.  I think that I will start freshening up some of the frequently unused bedding and blankets before my guests arrive in 2 1/2 weeks.  Yesterday I made up some rice pancakes.  They turned out well and are very satisfying.  I also made 2 batches of cookies - some for hubby and some as a thank you for a friend.  I need to make a batch of bread today and we are feeding a college student tonight - he will be here for "breakfast night" so he gets biscuits and gravy ... yum!

"that they teach the young women to be ...

keepers at home ..."

Titus 2:4-5

As I started this book and felt the Lord working in my heart, I looked at this chapter and thought, "Alright, I think I have this one down."  Dangerous thoughts of pride - huh?  But, but, ... this is the whole reason that I don't work outside of the home, this is the reason that I pass on many ladies' activities.  I had studied this out many times and heard and read many differing opinions on the phrase "keepers at home."  Some would promote that this is simply keeping a neat and tidy home ... teach woman to be housekeepers.  When I researched "keeper," I was impressed that it meant a guard. 

So what happened when I read the chapter.  I was impressed with the number of ways that I leave my "post" during the day even while still bodily in the home.  I can fail to "keep" my home by spending too much time on the phone or internet, I can waste time doing unprofitable tasks, I can be distracted by nothing at all and fail to accomplish anything in the home.   I again was convicted that I need to "redeem the time."  I need to choose my activities carefully.

The author says: "'Keeping the home' is more than staying at home; it is having a heart that is fixed on the home.  A help meet will be engaged in creative enterprises that challenge and inspire the children.  She will guard the home against outside influences, and she will always be on watch to protect the children from their own inventions of evil.  She will not be idle and neither will her children.  She will ease her husband's load by painting the hall and cutting the grass.  She will be frugal in all her endeavors, and she will teach the children to love serving Daddy.  She will keep the home so that when Daddy comes home, it is a sanctuary of peace, love, and order.  A real help meet will make herself useful to her man instead ofwasting her time."