This pretty bouquet greets me this Monday -- a day full of housework and laundry. Although I don't enjoy many of the household chores on my t0-do list today, I am working on being a better homemaker.
In her book The Spirit of Loveliness, Emilie Barnes addresses the need for a sense of order in the home: "A welcoming home has a sense of order about it. Not stiff, stultifying order that goes to pieces over a speck of dust or that sacrifices relationships in the interest of cleanliness, but a comforting, confident sense that life is under control. A sense that people, not posessions, are in charge of the household, that emotions are expressed but never used as weapons, that life is proceeding with a purpose and according to an overall plan."
On the subject of cleaning house, Barnes offers a spiritual perspective: "Most of us respond positively to that kind of order in our lives because we are made in the image of God, and because God organized the whole universe to proceed in an orderly fashion. Think of the creation, when God created a beautiful, populated globe out of darkness and chaos. He is the ultimate Organizer, and the results of His ordering Spirit are always good. We automatically feel more comfortable and more welcome when we sense His kind of order in our lives."
"She looks well to the ways of her household, and does not eat the bread of idleness" (Proverbs 31:27).
Here's hoping we can all find joy in the tasks this Monday brings!
