How To Be Happy in Homemaking
Last night Matt installed the new showerhead I requested for my birthday. We stayed in a hotel on our way to Wyoming this Christmas, and the showerhead was amazing. I decided right then that this was the gift I was going to ask for. Matt thought I was weird, but I told him we do some of our best thinking in the shower, so a boosted water experience would surely improve our whole lives.
Anyway, he removed the old showerhead, and when I came in to see how it was going, I was mortified to see that the pipe coming down to the head was absolutely disgusting with dust. We’re talking dust bunnies you could reach up and pull off with your hands and pet. Dust bunnies so robust they deserved to be named. How in the world had I been missing that place when I cleaned? We’ll have lived in this house for seven years come March, and obviously I had not been dusting that pipe for seven years. In great irony, just a few days before I had been carefully dusting the light fixtures above the bathroom sink, oblivious to the long-neglected spot right behind that wall in the shower. I was humbled.
For a few days, I have had the beginning of Psalm 40:17 in my mind, “As for me, I am poor and needy.” I am a woman with dust accumulating in unseen places, bad habits yet to be disassembled, character traits yet to develop, and wisdom yet to be grasped. There will never be a time, while I live on this earth battling my sinful nature, that I can move away from the statement that I am poor and needy.
“As for me, I am poor and needy, but the Lord takes thought for me.” Jesus says that not only does he think about the woman who is poor in spirit but he gives the kingdom of heaven to her, and she is happy. What a grand reward for such a lowly confession.
Where do you see your wretchedness as a homemaker? Maybe it’s in your inability to free your house from useless clutter. Maybe you don’t know how to cook. Maybe you keep snapping at your husband. Maybe you have a shopping habit you can’t get under control. Maybe you’re undisciplined to do the laundry from start to finish. Say it. Say it to the Lord. Tell him where you are failing and admit your poverty. What you’ll discover is that Jesus is thoughtful, kind, and able. In your weakness he will show his strength. In exchange for your confession of lack, he will give you the kingdom of heaven.
You would think that happiness would be directly proportional to how successful you are in building your home, but no. If you want to be happy, it’s humility and neediness you’re looking for. Blessed (happy) are the poor in spirit, Jesus says.
Yes, ma’am, I am certainly poor and needy, and in too many arenas to count! My daughter told me yesterday that her friend so much enjoys my daughter’s stories of her childhood that she thinks I should write a book on how to raise children. I laughed, and for a moment was flattered, until the good Lord reminded me of exactly how many words that book would be: Three. I told my daughter all I could write would be “Pray for wisdom” – each child, each family situation, needs wisdom from above far more than any ideas I could offer, and certainly there is no formula for success that will work for every mother, no matter how earnest.
Perhaps I would do well to remember that the same is likely true for homemaking. I can gather all the ideas in the world from influencers who seem to have their own acts together, but how much more efficient to come to my Father, who made me and is well acquainted with my strengths and weaknesses, and ask him to help me do my job better.
Well said!
The verse and these thoughts make perfect sense! I have understood that there’s something I’m not quite grasping in my homemaker ~ something kinda barring my way from getting where I need to be … in letting go of certain things, in having more regular habits for taking care of my home and myself. I’m going to be more deliberate in considering how “poor and needy” *I* am in these areas, and I’m giving them to the LORD! amen!
That’s the best place to start. I am praying, asking the Lord to help you make the forward strides you long for.
I guess I have never thought of this as wretchedness as much as I’ve thought I know I am missing something. Lord, I know I have blind spots, I need your wisdom and discernment. Open my eyes to see what I am missing and help me take care of what you have entrusted to me. Thank you for your grace and patience with me.
Thankfully Jesus makes up for all of our lack.
Beautifully written. Thank you for intentionally pointing others to Jesus Christ as Savior. He is so gracious and gentle with each of us!
Thank you, Amber. I long for women to know the goodness of Jesus in their lives.