Jamie addressed the next topic in our Titus 2 study -- "be workers at home." She started her presentation by assuring us that there is no checklist of things to do in order to be a good managers of our homes. (Thank goodness! I read a checklist for caring for your home once that included dusting your light bulbs. According to that list, I fail everyday!)
Instead, Jamie pointed us to general truths from the Bible to help us change our mindsets about homemaking.
1) We need to develop a heart for our home. Caring for her home should be a top priority of every woman. (Prov. 14:1, 1 Timothy 5:14) In Proverbs 31, we see a woman who undertook many enterprises, but her primary goal was to serve her family and her home.
2) In caring for our homes, we need to consider what we can do to best help our husbands (Genesis 2:18-22). Does he mind clutter? Then we need to focus on that. Would he consider it a help for us to mow the lawn or help with the landscaping? Then that is what we ought to be doing. Often, we can be distracted by taking care of what we want done in our homes rather than what our husbands and children need.
3) Faithfulness can get boring, but that is what we are called to. In our spiritual lives, conversion stories are so exciting and moving. In our emotional lives, budding romances or new babies stir our hearts. In our physical lives, moving to a new home can be like a new adventure. However, the excitement of all of these things is short-lived. Honestly, the vast majority of our lives are filled with the mundane "duties" that each of these entail -- cleaning that new home and making repairs to it when needed, training that precious child for many, many years without any thanks from him, loving and serving our husbands day in and day out through the years, and daily Bible reading and prayer. These things aren't glamorous. But God doesn't call us to be glamorous. He calls us to be faithful (Mark 10:28-31).
4) Finally, Jamie exhorted us to set our minds on things above (Col. 3:1-4) and to remember that God's wisdom is what we need to be building our lives on -- not on what the world says we need (1 Cor. 1:25). She gave a quote from the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood -- Fulfillment does not come through pursuing what we think will fulfill us. Fulfillment comes through pursuing the purpose for which we have been created. God has intended that a woman's primary sphere of influence be her home, her husband, and children.
