Develop This Character Trait for Successful Homemaking

My little grandsons were restless, but it was bitter cold outside, so I took them to the crawlspace for entertainment. We go there often. Those little boys love nothing better than going to a secret cave under the house with flashlights to explore. I sat down on a Rubbermaid and let them look for treasures. Pretty soon, they had found sticks for roasting marshmallows and were using them to drum on the PVC pipe. 

“What’s going on down there, Hon?” Matt said from above.

“Just boys with sticks and water pipes,” I said.

I climbed the ladder back upstairs for a second, to ask Matt which color of Christmas tree bulbs he wanted me to bring up. When I turned around to go back down, there in front of me was the five-year-old with a plastic nativity scene shepherd that was bigger than he was.

“I brought this up, Grandma,” he said.Our jaws dropped. Somehow, that little boy had maneuvered a huge shepherd up the ladder and carried it to me. That is determination. 

He is just like his grandma. We are both strong-willed children, and if we decide to do something, we are going to do it. Impossible, you say? Too big? Too hard? That only fuels the fire in our bellies to make it happen.

That was me three Decembers ago. As of this week, Dave is now three years old. I set out to try my hand at sourdough bread, even though many times before I had read recipes for this and chickened out. But three years ago, I decided I would give it a go. Feet planted. Arms crossed. Game face on. It was my or-die-trying stance. After watching copious YouTube videos (YouTube was made for the strong-willed child who wants to do it herself), I made my very first sourdough starter, covered it with cloth that I tied on the jar with a string, and set it on the counter.

“It looks like a shepherd boy that you should put in the nativity scene,” my daughter said.

“David the shepherd boy,” my son said.

And so my sourdough was named Dave, and he has lived in our refrigerator ever since, producing an abundance of artisan loaves, sandwich loaves, cinnamon rolls, and savoury crackers. I did it. I mastered the art of sourdough, because I decided to. 

We are made in the image of God, and one of his richest qualities is that if he decides to do something, he does it. If he decides to stop a fierce storm, he stops it. If he decides to free his people, he frees them. (A sea in the way? Just part it.) If he decides to send a Savior, he sends him. (Kill the Savior? He’ll just raise him from the dead.) 

“What I have said that will I bring about; what I have planned, that will I do,” the LORD says in Isaiah 46:11. This is the mantra of the strong-willed child.

What I have planned, that will I do.

Of course, I have the sin problem. Sometimes I have planned to do wrong, and in my strong will, I have done it. Not pretty. Sometimes I have planned to do good and have failed to carry it out. Best laid plans and all that.  

But what about the strong will redeemed? The strong will purified by Jesus? The strong will in all of its refined glory?

A couple of years ago, I quietly set my face like flint toward our pantry and determined that I would slowly get rid of highly processed foods and replace them with raw ingredients to make nutritious food instead. You should see my pantry now. With the Lord’s help, I have accomplished what I set out to do.

Do you know what’s wonderful? The more I am determined to do and actually accomplish what I have set out to accomplish, the more I feel I can do. I find myself asking, “What next?” If the Holy One, who brings about what he says he will bring about and who does what he has planned, is for me and strengthening me and guiding me, what can’t I do? 

There is something in your homemaking that is lacking, and you know it. Maybe it’s your lack of discipline in doing laundry or the way you keep losing your temper with your kids or the fact that you know you need a budget but you keep putting off learning how because it’s hard. (Reminds me of years ago when I spent one entire Christmas vacation reading Dave Ramsey’s Total Money Maker, because I was sick of living paycheck-to-paycheck and was determined to change it. And I did.) What is it for you that could really use an inner strong-willed child? 

Setting your face like flint is a quality of God (picture Jesus determined to head to his death in Jerusalem), and you are made in God’s image. Pray and think and pray some more and decide what you need to have strength in your will to plan and do this next year to become a better homemaker. Set your mind on just one place where you need to learn and grow. Tackle something very small but with a great investment of self and joyful dependence on the Lord for strength.  

Plan it. Do it. 

Say it. Make it happen. 

When you develop unwavering determination in your character (toward noble deeds, of course), your family will see a reflection of God and know he is alive and a very real powerful force in your home. They might think, “If God helped Mom accomplish this, what might he help me accomplish?”