The Perfect Homemaker
I CAN'T DO IT ALL
I hurriedly made my bed this morning, wishing there were more hours in the day.
Just a few minutes earlier, my five year old had asked me if I would teach him how to play the piano. I let out a longing sigh, wishing that it were possible for me to drop everything I was doing and go spend some time at the piano with my boy.
But I knew that wasn’t the thing that needed to be done at the moment.
NONE OF US ARE PERFECT
For every homemaker, there’s a constant question of when to spend one’s time maintaining a clean and pleasant environment and when to forget about the to-do list and give undivided attention to the people who live in that environment.
Unfortunately, after we’ve made our decision, there’s usually a nagging in the back our mind as to whether or not we made the right one. If we spend our time cleaning, we feel guilty for not giving more one-on-one attention to our kids. If we spend our time playing with or reading to the kids, we feel guilty that some of the housework is left undone.
No matter how beautiful and clean one’s house is, and no matter how much loving attention one’s family receives, none of us will ever be a perfect homemaker.
We can make every effort known to man to improve our skills and to manage our time better, but the twenty-four hours allotted to each day will still never be enough to attain perfection in all areas of homemaking.
ACTUALLY, THERE IS A PERFECT HOMEMAKER
But as I made my bed this morning, frustrated by those limitations of time, I realized that I actually do know a perfect homemaker.
And that homemaker is not even a woman – not even a human actually. That’s what makes him so perfect.
The perfect homemaker is God.
Right now he is preparing a perfect home for his children.
He is not limited in time or resources. He possesses all the time necessary for maintaining a home of infinite beauty and order, while simultaneously giving his children unlimited love and attention.
I’ll admit that this analogy of God as a homemaker seemed a little cheesy at first, but the more I thought about it, the more encouraged I became in my own role as a homemaker.
I need not succumb to irritation at the limitations of the time-bound, sin-cursed earth on which I live. The impossibility of ever attaining perfection as a homemaker instead makes me turn my attention to my eternal home!
Just think! A home with no dirt on the floor, no legos to step on, and unlimited time to spend with the ones we love!
The reality of imperfect homemaking gives us endless opportunities to focus on the eternal and to teach our children to do the same.
When you are confronted with dirt, disorder, and a clock that moves far too quickly, remember the perfect home that awaits you some day.
Let’s get a fresh perspective of homemaking. Homemaking was never about “doing it all”. Homemaking is about creating an environment where CHRIST is the center of all that is done and said. And what better opportunity to turn the attention of our family onto things above than when we're confronted with reminders that this world is not our home?
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