Me...Do Housework?

Homemaking in 2011 is a far cry from what it was in 1940.  Dishwashers have now rescued us from those perpetual dishpan hands!  Automatic washing machines have replaced the scrub board and ringer washer that was once the only means for having clean clothes. Electric clothes dryers have taken the place of the back yard clothesline and bread machines have freed us from having to knead another lump of flour and yeast! We don't even have to shred our own carrots or lettuce, because they too, have already been done for us and are waiting in neat little packages on the grocer's tidy shelves!

Being a domestic engineer has never been easier!   Yet we are raising another generation of lazy, housework hating girls, who do not care to help their family with the daily care of the home. I believe this problem lies on the doorstep of mothers. Are you a housework hating mom?  Are there household chores and family needs that are left undone because you just don't enjoy doing them?  A dirty house, laden with piles of unfolded laundry and dirty dishes filling the kitchen sink should not be the home of a Christian woman or her family! 

I would like to encourage every woman reading this short column, to rethink her God given role as a "keeper of the home".  Many of you aspire to be like the "virtuous woman" in Proverbs 31, but are you?

Proverbs 31:13  "She seeketh wool and flax and worketh willingly with her hands."

Proverbs 31:15  "She riseth also while it is yet night and giveth meat to her household, and a portion to her maidens."

Proverbs 31:27  "She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness."

Passing on a desire to be a domestic, keeper of the home and family, starts with your example before your family.  Does your family hear your complaints about the never ending task load you bear?  What your daughters see in you, as you serve your family every day, sends a message about how you feel about serving them.  Perhaps it is time to view the endless, repetitive chores associated with every day family living, as nothing more than washing the feet of your family.  Jesus did that willingly and with joy.

Can we?  After all, we are called to this mission in our very creation!  Please don't allow the world to take away your joy of servanthood to your husband and family.  You are also serving the Lord when you joyfully and faithfully "wash the feet of your family" in the way you care for them.

I Corinthians 10:31  "Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God."

Remember...we are in the Saviour's employ when we happily choose to "wash the feet of our family".  May I remind you?  You are also training the next generation, as they live their lives...watching you.