Let us paint a portrait of what a
passionate home maker might look like. A home maker living out the details of her life
with liveliness, true joy, beauty, grace, freedom and... passion.
What IS passion?
The definitions I found on some various
online sources were these:
- intense emotion compelling action
- emotion that is deeply stirring and
ungovernable
- implies warm and steady emotion
- applies to lively or eager interest in or
admiration for a proposal, cause or activity
- implies energetic and unflagging pursuit
of an aim or devotion to a cause
We want to take a few minutes - right now
or consider printing this out and doing this when you get a few moments - to close our
eyes and concentrate on a few things. The first thing we will reach deep to draw out is
our very own descriptions of a passion filled life as a homemaker in Christ. We must allow
ourselves some silence to really ponder what this vision will be illuminated by.
This woman has "intense
emotion" compelling her to action. She isnt dragging herself around with no
signs of emotion barely existing but not truly alive! No! This lady is moved to action BY
her intense emotion. She digs deep into the well of her soul each and every day by filling
it to overflowing with the Giver of Life and the Author of Love! What can have more
passion than the CREATOR of LIFE? What can possibly hold as much righteous fire as the ONE
who IS LOVE? Do we sometimes keep an image of God in our minds as this boring white shadow
that floats over the skies humming all day? Ive mistakenly thought similar things in
the past. This isnt the way of our active and pursuing God!
He is actively and intimately involved in
every fiber of our being... every center to every corner of our lives. There is not one
emotion... no thought... no concern... no anything that touches our lives that He is
unaware of. Do you realize how passionate His love for us is? We can gain a more
passionate love for our husbands, children and even in our homemaking if we are more
intimately and actively aware of them. We can pursue a greater knowledge of who they are
and of what our homes are made of by making ourselves students of our husbands, our
children, and our homes. What do I mean by becoming students of this sort? Lets
start with how well you really know your husbands? Would he say you know him... his
desires... his dreams... his interests... his likes/dislikes...his needs and concerns?
What about the children? Do you know
these things about them? Their strengths and weaknesses to pray for?
Your home... do you know what it needs to
be maintained? Do you have ideas/dreams for things youd like to do to make it more
cozy, more pretty, more a haven? OR... have you lost hope? Have you given up and "let
it go"? Have you lost your passion? Have you lost your passion with this man you
married? Do you still light up inside when you see him... enjoy the warmth of holding his
hand... cherish his kiss?
Did you lose the passionate mothering
acts you always dreamed of with your kids? Do you still marvel at the gift they are to
your life? Do you hug them and feel the wonder of their growing bodies... bodies that God
Himself created in the body of you?
Have you lost a passion in life? Are you
living with feelings that stir your soul... so much so that they seem to have no boundary
or are your feelings so weighed down with everything else that they have become quite numb
to these things?
A woman of righteous passion for the
roles God has given her does all of these things. She doesnt expect to just FEEL the
passion...she makes it happen... she creates it... she brings it back when realizing it is
hidden. The woman of this passion works to keep her soul alive! This lady learns the
wisdom that emotions can only remain warm and steady when she makes the choice to actively
pursue the awareness needed to keep herself alive.
Do you feel like Nicole Johnson describes
in these words from her book:
"Fresh Brewed Life" ...
"Who am I? Do you ever feel that youre faking your life? That youre
living someone elses life, and youre not sure whose? You wonder how you got to
this place of disguise. You want to give yourself to God, but what self are you going to
give"?
You cannot change any of this on your
own. We simply do not have it in us UNLESS... unless we go to the "in us" that
is JESUS. JESUS in US is where the changes come from... where the emotions are balanced
and the passion restored. The more of Him in Us... the more life we will have in the hours
we spend. More PASSION cannot be had than the passion of JESUS CHRIST... our Savior, our
King, Our Lord.
Now that we have finished our portrait of
this woman who looks to the ways of her household with eager interests... let us move on
to the next thing I wanted us to focus on and that is this: How much passion... how much
energy and inner joy is ours as home makers in our own homes? Ask yourselves these as I
will be doing with you... It takes " energetic and unflagging pursuit of an aim or
devotion to a cause" to make things ALIVE and EXCITING in every single moment. WHAT
is our devotion... our cause? Number one is Jesus. He is our reason for everything in
every moment. We must fill our souls with HIM, HIM, HIM every single chance we get.
After Him we have to with energy pursue
the aim of our husbands, our children and our homes. This is a fantastic journey, my sweet
friends. This doesnt have to be drudgery... this doesnt have to be boring,
lonely, or numb!
The woman --- the daughter of God, wife,
mother, and home maker --- of true and real passion designs her life by Gods
Words... by His standards. She is willing to "wash the feet" of the Father with
her daily commitment to time with Him. Going to Him and bowing her soul at His very
feet... blessing her life just by being there. She is willing to "wash the feet"
of her husband by doing what things are needed in gratitude for the opportunity. This
mother is willing to "wash the feet" of her children by placing their needs
above her own wants. How does this homemaker "wash the feet" of something? She
washes the floors! Thats it... she is willing to wash the floors that all the feet
walk on because she can find happiness ... even there. "Peter saith unto him, Thou
shalt never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with
me. Simon Peter saith unto him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my
head." John 13:8-9 I would go on to provide a better picture of the passionate woman
for you but I am choosing not to. I could add many different ways, ideas, and thoughts on
what she looks like... what she does... how she feels... who she is. I choose not to so
that YOU can paint her yourself. I cannot paint her for you and have her come out right!
God has a unique and special way for each woman to live her life and she must search out
to find that way herself. Only she... only YOU can know the life God wants for you where
you are.
Here are some things to ponder in order
to get you started on your "path of passion"...
Am I as passionate as I want to be?
Do I understand that passion isnt
only found in the bedroom with the lights out but instead is available to us inside each
of our moments? Have I allowed myself to become stagnant... allowed my LIFE as a
Christian, Wife, Mother, HOMEMAKER to become dull and dreary? What are some things I can
do to create some passion in this home? With my Lord I can find instant passion when I
pick up His Word. When I read things like ... "And saying, Sirs, why do ye these
things? We also are men of like passions with you, and preach unto you that ye should turn
from these vanities unto the living God, which made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and
all things that are therein:" Acts 14:15 You can also find passion when you pray to
Him... when you go to Him with every chance to talk to Him and listen for His voice in
your life.
With your husband you can find passion
when you love him the way you really want to love him. God gave you the desires to love
him the way you should but the world has a way of dampening those passions. The world has
a way of watering them down to make them fit into a basic mold instead of letting them run
wild and free ... just with the man God joined you with. You can find passion by looking
deep into his eyes, looking --- really looking --- at his hands... feeling --- really
feeling --- the warmth in his touch.
With your children you can find passion
by meeting them at their level... wherever that level may be. Allow yourself to enter into
their world and play with them there at any age they live in right now. You can bring back
the innocent pleasures of your youth by visiting it in your childrens present life!
You can discover unmatched happiness in letting go enough to hang on to these memories
while you can.
With your home... you can be AWARE...
aware of anything you can with any task you do. While you are making beds... think of the
loved one God blessed you with sleeping sweetly on the pillows... note how beautiful their
hair is to you... hear in your mind the sound of their breathing. When you shower and the
water is pouring over every part of you... think on the fact that the blood of Jesus is
more pure than your water and cleans you... purifies you... like nothing else can. As you
are washing dishes, cleaning off the table --- yet again --- sweeping the floor and doing
the laundry... be aware of each task as you do it. The hot, soapy water rinsing clean, the
shine of the wood when all of the crumbs and hand prints are wiped off, the look of the
floor , free of debris.
Become involved in your every moment!
Make something beautiful of your every move... your every thought... your every thing!
There is nothing... nothing... nothing that you cannot learn a lesson from or see some
beauty in when you choose to make yourself aware.
He is there... GOD ALMIGHTY HIMSELF... HE
is right there with you! Arent we just utterly amazed that this divine LORD is not
only with us but deeply IN us as we move about in the motions of our day? Right now...
this very second... stop and let yourself feel His presence. He is there so it isnt
like this "wont work". If it isnt "working"... stay still
longer. Stay until you feel Him from your inner soul to surrounding you. Feel Him in the
very air... feel Him like you can feel nothing else in this life.
Start today to become a woman of passion.
If you are already there... start today to be even more so. Passion doesnt mean in
the world what it means from heaven. From heaven... it is beautiful... pure... lovely...
Godly. I pray that you will begin this moment by taking the very first step onto your path
of passion. This path is filled with so many wonders you could never count or even fathom
them all. Your God will indulge you in so much wonder and heighten your senses that you
will look forward to everything you do. Start now... on what passions path will be
in your life.
Sandy Willoughby ©2001
To consider covering here: Cleaning
(washing dishes, watering plants, mopping the floor, laundry, making beds, scrubbing
toilets, vacuuming carpets, cleaning windows, sweeping cobwebs), cooking (passionate
meals, food preparation, to go, dinner time, ) , organization (orderly drawers, closets,
purses, and more), Spiritual (quiet time, Bible reading, prayer, journaling, )
Correspondence ( letter writing), Marriage (beauty, fire, romance, ) Motherhood (hugging,
loving, time together).
Sandy Willoughby ©2001