Making Family Great Again!

These days, a mother and wife in her home may, of necessity, mirror the multi-tasking wonder woman of Proverbs 31. While I’ve been praying God would lead women back home, I can’t shoulder the responsibility for the reason so many of you are there with your children and maybe your husband, making huge shifts in shared spaces and schedules, keeping the family kitchen creatively stocked and humming at least three times a day, attempting to keep the family and the house virus-proof and perhaps overseeing some virtual learning.

May I suggest that while we are prayerful regarding the outcome of this pandemic and for those in whose hands decisions are being made to combat the virus, very likely, there’s something wonderful going on under our own roof as we recover the beauty of being a family.

The sentiments of one child as reported in a recent Wall Street Journal article reflect a sunny side of what to many of us view as a disaster: “Mom, I like the coronavirus.” It was pretty obvious to the mother that what was so delightful to him was his time with her—crafts, reading books together, cooking together, working puzzles together.

A few seasons ago, our friend Jackie Dunne, taught a class on homemaking during which she defined it as vocation, meaning a calling. Most of us have been fed hearty helpings from the smorgasbord of opportunities out there for women in today’s world. As a home economics major myself with eyes on the ever-evolving fashion industry, I had not seen the enduring value of creating a home where new life is birthed, nurtured, and prepared to make a difference in the world on behalf of the Kingdom of God. Jackie challenged us regarding the why we serve in the home, making the point that it’s the Gospel that shapes the hidden heart of homemaking and changes our motive from being one of duty, to gratitude to God for the privilege of encouraging, nurturing, comforting and helping others to flourish.

Far from the Pinterest world of Home and Garden TV, we were reminded of Edith Schaeffer’s treasure, The Hidden Art of Homemaking, in which she wrote, “we are an art form. Made in our Creator’s image, we too, create—make choices, arrange, and display … we produce an environment other people have to live in. We should be conscious of the fact that this environment which we produce by our very being can affect the people who live with us … our conversations, attitudes, behavior, response or lack of response, hardness or compassion, our love or selfishness, joy or dullness, our demonstrated trust and faith or our continual despondence … all these make a difference to the people in our environment.”* We are being read by those around us. Let’s make for good reading!

While many of us are stretched and perhaps tempted to fret about what the pandemic means for our future and that of our family, as God’s children, we can look for the sunny side because of our God’s covenant promise to be our God, to never leave us nor forsake us, and to always be at work for the good of His people.

And, more than that, in our strategic place as life-givers, the very “heart of the home,” we homemakers can be very intentional in recovering and celebrating the simple joys of being a family, and of creating a place of refuge for our loved ones where each will have a sense of belonging and an inspiring sense of his/her intrinsic worth as a bearer of God’s image.