There was a time in history that managing a home was considered a worthy occupation.  It was important for a mother to teach her daughter(s) the skills of running an efficient and happy household.  Today if your daughter desires to be a homemaker, the world has to offer their biased and unsolicited advice against that choice. It is very sad when Christians try to dissuade young ladies from being homemakers. There is an unending joy in being able to be a homemaker. We need to be sure to teach the many different skills for homemaking to our daughters and others, and not to make it sound like a drudgery or an unhappy, tiresome job that we do not want to do.

Through God’s help, I have been a homemaker for 29 years and all three of my daughters desire to be homemakers. My three sons would like to marry a godly woman who desires to be a homemaker.  I have tried to instill in my own daughters that homemaking is an art and that it is fun and challenging.  It can be very hard and seem that of an unending and unappreciated task, but it is well worth it.  I have found great pleasure in making a home, caring for it and teaching my daughters and others the joy of homemaking. But, no matter the degree of time each godly woman can invest in her homemaking, we need to be sure to give it our best and make it enjoyable and a lasting art.

I know that it is often hard to be different from the norm or to be counter-culture in your thinking.  The modern world does not think that homemaking is anything to be concerned about.  Sadly, judges a person on their accomplishments and monetary value. A homemaker’s value can be measured in her accomplishments, but never monetarily.  A doctor may save a person’s physical life, but a homemaker’s children may have been taught important facts to save a life and a soul. Many children have become faithful to God through a mother’s fervent prayers and selfless service.  Many of these children’s friends have become Christians due to being welcomed into a godly home where a happy homemaker has shown her talents.

Joyfulness and peacefulness in our homemaking are a necessity for our children and our husbands. They need to look forward to their peaceful home that the godly woman has made for them. Even if a woman’s efforts seem unnoticed, God sees all our homemaking efforts.

“ I looked on child rearing not only as a work of love and duty but as a profession that was fully as interesting and challenging as any honorable profession in the world and one that demanded the best that I could bring to it.”  ~ Rose Kennedy (mother of J.F. Kennedy)

A homemaker designs her home.  Like in her childish dreams, a woman can now actually design and make her own unique household. The possibilities are endless. She also builds a child’s character and makes that child an asset to this world (or not). Good living of kindness, honesty, sharing and sacrificing are largely caught, more than taught. Your children will “catch” whatever is floating around in their little environment. A woman and mother, just by her nature alone, is better equipped to love and to teach her own children and to love and care for her own husband. Most husbands will see and appreciate a wife making a household run smoothly and with artful interests displayed throughout.  It warms a man’s heart to know his wife and children are happy in the home that he is the head of.

In all areas of life and especially homemaking, boredom and dissatisfaction are of a woman’s own making.  It is heartbreaking for me when a woman says, “I could never stay home all day and not have a job to get away to.”  Sadly, attitude has a lot to do with being successful in making a home a godly haven for our loved ones. At times a woman may want to help with the family income outside of the home, but hopefully her homemaking will not be neglected and still be an important area in her life.  It may be harder, but not impossible. God will bless our efforts, for He wrote to us about women being the homemaker! Women make the home or break the home.

“So much of what we learn of love we learn at home.”

Homemakers should always be kind and understanding in her expressions about homemaking.  Homemakers should also encourage young women to be content homemakers and provide helpful examples and instructions for them. Still today, as in past years, marriage and motherhood are the dreams of most all-young girls. That is a worthy ambition.  Homemaking is a job that is very satisfying and rewarding, but as in any job, it depends on how much you will put into it. Homemaking is a wonderful job and it may have hard days and days that leave you weary, but what job doesn’t?  It is time for godly women to encourage the art of homemaking and pass on the wisdom and skills of homemaking to their daughters and other young women.  It is a talented art and truly is fun! All women are equipped with the natural desire to have a happy and pleasant home.

Happy homemaking!!

“ To keep debt, dirt, and the devil out of my cottage has been my greatest wish ever since we set up housekeeping; and although the last of the three has sometimes got in by the door or the window, for the old serpent will wriggle through the smallest crack, yet thanks to a good wife, hard work, honesty, and scrubbing brushes, the two others have not crossed the threshold.”
~ C.H. Spurgeon

By Susan Follis
Susan Follis lives in Lamar, Colorado. She and her husband, Jim, have been married almost 34 years. They have six children and four grandchildren. She loves learning about being a godly wife and mother.