The Welcome Home
November 11, 2004
Homemaking Sharing
Dear Sisters…
We’re all traveling this road together, and were you
to stop by, you'd see that I am just like you: still
in the Hand of the Potter, daily being trained and
reworked by the LORD. Our home is a welcome home to
our family and to you, our friends... most of all it
is a home where the LORD is at work and we’re in all
stages of growing in Him. There are so many ways in
which the LORD is visibly evident. It seems to me
that this month, in particular, really demonstrates
the order of the seasons. I pray that you will be
refreshed in these seasons and that you will be
encouraged in the LORD. I hope you will take some
time away, just now, have a cup of tea and let me
share with you some things the LORD has laid on my
heart to share this week.
Each year with the change of the clocks, I do a few
semi annual things in our home. Do you have a
regular time to check and/or change your smoke alarm
batteries? Every year with the change of the clocks,
I change the batteries in the smoke detectors. I
have a sheet of paper in the kitchen on the inside
of one of my cabinets that I have listed in columns
the date and whether or not the battery was checked
and/or annually replaced.
I check the fire extinguishers, and vacuum under the
fridge and in the dryer vent, too. Some of you may
remember how I wrote to you several summer’s ago
regarding the home I saw at the beach in California
that had burned because of lint accumulation in the
dryer vent. It was so stirring to see the shell of
that elegant home and the still beautiful yard
surrounding the shell of the home. It was sobering
to me to think of the potential fire hazards in our
homes. We need to always trust the LORD for His
protection and provision while doing what we know to
do in the maintenance of our homes. A fireman told
us that a couple of the greatest fire hazards in the
home are the accumulations of lint under the fridge
and in the dryer vent. We recently replaced our
dryer (Again!), it was so surprising how much lint
and a great deal of other things had accumulated at
the exhaust vent at the base of the dryer. Under
our fridge got a thorough vacuuming, too!
This is a wonderful time of year for planting and
planning… both literally, and figuratively! A time
for planting for Spring season… and a time of
planning and planting spiritually for the coming
seasons of your life. As we are nearing the end of
the year, it might be a good time to think back on
commitments made at the first of the year. Remember
in January when we had a bright new year ahead of
us... a clean slate, a new hope, an unwritten
book...? Well, now that the year is coming to a
close, the clean slate is probably a bit tarnished,
some hopes may be dashed, and some notations in the
book are written with regret. Could I encourage you
to give it all over to the LORD once again? God is
the God of new beginnings and new hope. If we have
made mistakes, errors, sinned against the LORD, our
husbands, our children... He tells us in His Word:
"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to
forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all
unrighteousness." -1John 1.9
If you intended to get up a bit earlier to be with
the LORD Jesus, if you intended to memorize the
written Word, if you intended to be a sweet offering
to the LORD and to walk in His ways and yet you have
failed... would you join me in recommitting your way
to Him and ask Him to forgive you for the things you
know you ought but haven't done, ask Him to be your
guide... ask Him to give you the grace to obey His
Will and His Word. Maybe you will join me in praying
the LORD will grant you the wisdom needed to manage
the home, to love your husband, to work with the
children, to minister to your neighbors. Time is
important to the LORD... it is evident in His
Creation. How we spend the time He gives us must
become more important to us.
Ephesians 5.6 says: "Redeeming the time, because the
days are evil." And in Colossians 4.5: "Walk in
wisdom toward them that are without, redeeming the
time."
_______________________________________________________
I have been thinking for some time about
organization, home and time management "stuff"
---and I have written to you about all of this
several times---but it has really hit me again that
many of us never learned time and home management
not because our mothers were not guiding us in these
areas, but because our mothers, many of them, didn't
have half the things(!) we have today and they were
not faced with the same decisions we are faced with
today---and vice versa. They didn’t have the sort of
schedule we have, nor all the “stuff” to make their
lives *easier!* I have the great blessing of having
some very organized daughters and sons. While I’ve
been sick, they’ve had charts, schedules and tasks
for every day. I sorely lack these organizational
skills and have to really work hard at being
orderly.
Go back in the theatre of your mind and picture the
home in which you were raised. I did this, and
thought: even though my parents were very affluent
compared to my husband and me, they certainly didn't
have all the things(!) we have today. Consequently
(and this has all changed drastically now), my
mother didn't have to organize, containerize,
prioritize the way I have found needful in my
home---she had other things with which to concern
herself. I know she had several obligations and had
a large home to manage, but she surely didn't have
all the stuff(!) we all have today. She didn't have
Rubbermaid bins, boxes, stackers, space makers,
organizers, etc., etc. I know things are much
different for her even today... she's begun to
"need" all these things, too, even though this isn't
the way it's always been. I am imagining that it was
probably much the same with you. We sure need loving
encouragement to press on, to decide what it is that
the LORD requires, what is important, and how we are
to manage what the LORD has called us to. This is
one of the reasons that I desire to write to you
each week---not because I have such great ideas or
such a wealth of wisdom to impart---no, it's because
I long to encourage you to good things. Whatever it
is the LORD has called you to, and wherever you are,
I believe more than ever, that we all need helpful
inspiration to walk with the LORD and to look to
Him. I do not know anyone who, from time to time,
does not get discouraged along the way. It's
discouraging sometimes: the dailies. It is
discouraging sometimes when we fail at the very
things we "know that we know that we know." I feel
this way sometimes and that is why, though I feel
incapable, I believe the LORD has prompted me to
walk with you along the way to encourage you to
trust in the LORD with all your heart, to try a
little harder each next time, to love your husband
and your children, and to live out your life as a
sweet offering to the LORD.
________________________________________________________
Some of you may remember me sharing this: *What do
you have on hand?* I imagine many of your are like
me in that there may be many things you wish you
could do, wish you were able to accomplish, wish you
were able to afford, but for whatever reason you are
unable. Well, what do you have on hand? I share with
you from time to time things I’ve "had on hand."
Maybe I could be of encouragement to you as we walk
along together. My mother and grandmother used to
ask: “what do you have on hand?” when I wanted to
make something… cooking or sewing. I appreciate
that early training.
When I’ve needed pot holders or curtains or dresses
for my daughters, I just take a look at materials I
have on hand and see what I might do to sew them,
re-make a dress out of a larger dress, cut up an old
blanket to make padding for pot-holders, etc. When
something’s been totally worn out, I take a look at
the value of the buttons and sometimes I remove the
buttons and string them together for my button box.
I can’t recall how many times buttons have been
re-used.
A few times I’ve wanted paint or wallpaper to fix up
our home. It all looks fine---but the paint is old
on the inside, the lath and plaster walls sure need
attention.. Well... I went out to the shop to take
a look around and found some paint. This may go
against your grain, and ordinarily, I wouldn't like
this solution, but here I was in need of paint and I
was faced with a dilemma: do I use what I have, or
do I wait? Well---okay, so you know where I'm going
with this... I painted a wall---and I have done this
exact same thing before---I just use what we have on
hand. I am learning that what we have on hand is:
doing the next right thing. I did this several years
ago----ooooh, too bright and too pink! So, what to
do, what to do. I decided to try sponge painting and
looked under my sink for a sponge and in no time I
had, with a couple of colours, made a nice change
that I am still happy with (okay, and still
surprised!). I failed to mention that I hadn't done
this before and most all of my painting “career” has
been this sort of "hmmmm, I wonder what's out in the
shop" sort of painting. Every now and then we have
gone to the hardware store to actually choose paint
and thankfully I have always had lots of help with
the big jobs *and* have occasionally ended up with
an extra gallon of unused paint in a favourite
colour. All that to say, if you are wishing that you
could make an improvement in your home, but lack the
resources, I would ask: "what do you have on hand?”
and would it be alright to use it?
I’ve been sick with pneumonia for a few weeks and
all the while I’ve been mulling over some cleaning
that needs to be done---I do sort of a deep cleaning
a couple of times a year. Things like, taking down
the curtains, washing, starching, ironing and
re-hanging them. Or, things like, putting all the
yard furniture away, all the “sports” equipment,
etc. away, or covering things till spring. Things
like, taking down light fixtures and bulbs and
cleaning them. I’ve been delegating some of these
tasks and so, little by little, they’re getting
done. I am so grateful to my children for their help
in doing some of these necessary tasks. Do you have
an annual cleaning schedule? I learned this from my
mother in law who has a very orderly way of caring
for things.
When I get well, I’ll do a thorough house cleaning
in order to do that deep clean. For my initial deep
house cleaning, I will be going around our home with
a garbage bag and a "give away bag." I’ve found over
the years that it is much easier to *clean* a clean
house than it is to try to do everything in the home
at once. I’m thankful to be able to enlist our
children's help in all of this.
I pray that you are walking closer by the LORD each
day and that it is your hearts' desire to live
pleasing to Him. I am praying for you as I write,
that the LORD will bless and guide your days and
your thoughts...and that you will be a fragrant
offering to God. I guess the thing I want to leave
you with today is to not be discouraged and do not
give up. The LORD loves you and cares for everything
that concerns you.
It is with love in Jesus that I send you this letter
this week ---pamela
©2004
http://www.AChristianHome.org