Welcome to Day #12 of the 31 Days to Professional Homemaking series. To learn more about this series and to see the list of topics, click HERE. Please know that I am not an expert in marriage, motherhood, or homemaking. I'm just a woman {who happens to be a wife, mother, and homemaker}, trying to figure it all out, by the grace of God. This series is just as much for me as it is for anyone reading.
Before we get started, I'd like to offer you the following button, in case you want to share this series with your readers:
What's the most important aspect of intentional homemaking? Some may say it's a daily Bible study. Others may say it's a strong marriage. Others still may say that it's aiming for excellence.
All of these components are important. In fact, if any one of them were missing, then we're flirting with slipping back into our unintentional, living-life-on-auto-pilot ways. But, may I suggest that one of the most critical skills a professional homemaker can have is learning to identify obstacles; those things that Satan would use against you, including your own weaknesses {read: sins}.
"And He has said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.' Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong."
{2 Corinthians 12:9-10}
If you can learn from your weaknesses, you will be able to better guard against temptations and lies. Because, believe me, if there is any way Satan can get you off track by taking your focus away from intentionally making a home, he will do it. But, if you know where your weak spots are and you plug in to the awesome power of God, you will be able to stand against the tactics of the devil.
Now, obviously, there are as many potential obstacles as their are people reading this post. It just wouldn't be feasible to try and list them all. So, instead, what I want to do is point out just a few things that we should be aware of:
THE SIN OF IDLENESS
"Poor is he who works with a negligent hand, But the hand of the diligent makes rich. He who gathers in summer is a son who acts wisely, But he who sleeps in harvest is a son who acts shamefully. Like vinegar to the teeth and smoke to the eyes, So is the lazy one to those who send him."
{Proverbs 10:4-5, 26}
"The hand of the diligent will rule, But the slack hand will be put to forced labor. A lazy man does not roast his prey, But the precious possession of a man is diligence."
{Proverbs 12:24, 27}
"The soul of the sluggard craves and gets nothing, But the soul of the diligent is made fat."
{Proverbs 13:4}
"Go to the ant, O sluggard, Observe her ways and be wise, Which, having no chief, Officer or ruler, Prepares her food in the summer And gathers her provision in the harvest. How long will you lie down, O sluggard? When will you arise from your sleep? 'A little sleep, a little slumber, A little folding of the hands to rest'— Your poverty will come in like a vagabond And your need like an armed man."
{Proverbs 6:6-11}
As you can see from these verses, God does not look favorably on those who practice idleness. So, in order to avoid it, we've got to define what it is: to be idle is to be lazy or useless; to not move. If we, as women, are idle, we're useless to our home and our family.
So, how do we avoid idleness? Well, the opposite of idleness is diligence. Diligence, as defined by Dictionary.com, means "constant in effort to accomplish something; attentive and persistent in doing anything".
Constant. Attentive. Persistent. Do these words describe you?
{Please note: there is a difference between idleness and rest. It is important for us, as homemakers, to rest and/or pursue our own hobbies/interests. It keeps our minds sharp and our bodies energized. Rest is something that is planned and done with the motive of better serving the home and family, while idleness is straight up laziness; it does not provide any benefit whatsoever to the home or the family. It is self-serving.}
THE SIN OF BEING A BUSYBODY
"At the same time they also learn to be idle, as they go around from house to house; and not merely idle, but also gossips and busybodies, talking about things not proper to mention." - 1 Timothy 5:13
"For we hear that some among you are leading an undisciplined life, doing no work at all, but acting like busybodies." - 2 Thessalonians 3:11
So, what is a busybody? Again, relying on good ol' Dictionary.com, a busy body is "a person who pries into or meddles in the affairs of others". If you're more concerned with what's going on outside of your home {especially concerning "drama"}, then you're probably a busybody.
I can't remember where I read this, but one blogger pointed out that being a busybody doesn't necessarily mean that you physically "go around from house to house". Sometimes we can be a busybody by sitting down in front of the computer, hopping from blog "house" to blog "house", just to see what everyone is up to. Of course, it's not wrong to read blogs, but when we do it as a means of escaping our duties at home, then we become busybodies.
So, how do we combat the temptation to become a busybody? In my opinion, a busybody is someone who struggles with a type of idleness. It's different, though, than simply doing nothing. They're doing something, it's just not the something they need to be doing.
I would recommend that this person {which happens to be myself from time to time} take their focus off everyone else's "drama" or seemingly exciting life and focus on becoming diligent at home. If you struggle with being a busybody, perhaps you need to delete your Facebook or take a break from blog reading for a while. If you're "going around from house to house" by talking on the phone way too much, perhaps you should go on a "phone fast". Or, if you struggle with literally going from house to house, maybe you need to make an effort to stay home more often than not. However you choose to combat the sin of being a busybody, be aware that it is often driven by a desire to gossip. {Oh, yeah, and "this isn't gossip, it's true", isn't a good excuse; it may be true, but talking about someone else's "drama" or "news" is still gossip.}
Of course, there is a difference between being a busybody "going around from house to house" and ministering to others. A busybody is not genuinely concerned for the people that she comes into contact with; instead she's simply sticking her nose where it doesn't belong. Someone who is ministering to another, though, is not doing it with a motive of being nosy, rather in the spirit of encouraging and edifying her sister in Christ.
THE SIN OF DISCONTENTMENT/COVETOUSNESS
"And he said to them, 'Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.'”
Luke 12:15
"Now there is great gain in godliness with contentment, for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs."
1 Timothy 6:6-10
I have to admit that this particular weakness hits home for me more than the others {though, I do struggle with them, too}. I blame it on the fact that I enjoy organizing and decorating, because envying someone else's home {thus, becoming discontent with my own} is so easy for me to do. I admire so-and-so's organized pantry or stylish living room and, before I know it, I'm discontent with my slightly-disorganized pantry and I covet her living room, gladly trading in my hand-me-down space. It's such a slippery slope, you know?
But, being discontent and covetous can happen in regards to something {or someone} other than our home. It could be wishing your husband would be like her husband or your kids would behave as well as her kids seem to. It could be complaining that there's never enough money in the bank... Even if all of these thoughts remains as thoughts, never vocalized, it is still sin because it affects your heart.
There is good new for those who struggle with this particular sin, though, because I have learned an easy way to combat discontentment and covetousness: with gratitude. As the saying goes, "gratitude turns what we have into enough".
But, being discontent and covetous can happen in regards to something {or someone} other than our home. It could be wishing your husband would be like her husband or your kids would behave as well as her kids seem to. It could be complaining that there's never enough money in the bank... Even if all of these thoughts remains as thoughts, never vocalized, it is still sin because it affects your heart.
There is good new for those who struggle with this particular sin, though, because I have learned an easy way to combat discontentment and covetousness: with gratitude. As the saying goes, "gratitude turns what we have into enough".
"Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you."
1 Thessalonians 5:18
Today's Challenge:
Each day, I'll give you a challenge: one small thing you can do to apply each day's topic to your life and your home.
Here's your challenge for today:
What is your spiritual weakness? Maybe you struggle with one or more of the obstacles listed here {I struggle with all three, just not all the time and not at the same time}, or maybe it's something different entirely.
Here's what I want you to do:
STEP #1 - Pray and ask God to reveal your top weakness to you.
STEP #2 - Take a piece of paper and at the top of the page, write down your struggle in one or two words. Like this:
IDLENESS
STEP #3 - Next, write down one or two ways that this sin keeps you from being the kind of intentional homemaker that you hope to be. For example:
"Idleness keeps me from completing all of my chores because I choose to watch TV/stay on the computer for too long".
STEP #4 - Open your Bible and find every verse you can related to that weakness. As you find them, write them down.
STEP #5 - Write down ways to combat this sin. If the verses you find give you a solution, write it down. But, if it doesn't, ask yourself: what is the opposite of this sin? For example, the opposite of "idleness" is "diligence". The opposite of "discontent" is "content". Open your Bible and hunt for verses on these opposites.
Keep this page somewhere you'll be able to access it quickly, if necessary. You may wish you copy it into your personal journal or you may just place the original in your homemaking binder. Wherever you put it, make sure you will remember where it is. {Please tell me that I am not the only one who misplaces things like this?}
Every now and then, pull out these notes and read over them. How are you doing? Do you still struggle with this sin? If so, you may want to enlist the help of an accountability partner: someone who asks you how you're doing in this area and who can throw up a red flag if they see you headed for disaster.
STEP #6 - OPTIONAL: Post the verses that talk about your personal weakness, along with those concerning its opposite, around your home where you can see them. Meditate on them. Ask God to do a work in your heart so that this particular struggle won't come in the way of your homemaking anymore.
Thank you for this post! This is exactly what I needed to hear :)
ReplyDelete