Doing Something Worthwhile at Home

Count That Day Lost

If you sit down at set of sun
And count the acts that you have done,
And counting find
One self-denying deed,
One word
That eased the heart of him who heard,
One glance most kind,
That fell like sunshine where it went--
Then you may count that day well spent.
But if, through all the livelong day,
You've cheered no heart, by yea or nay--
If, through it all you've nothing done that you can trace
That brought the sunshine to one face--
No act most small
That helped some soul and nothing cost--
Then count that day as worst than lost.
George Elliot


Painting "Days End" from www.susanrios.inc

comments: In this blog we tend to put down a lot of practical ideas for managing the home, and sometimes it is necessary to remind people of the most important reasons for staying home for a woman. Her presence in the home lights the way for the success of others. Her encouragement is needed, as well as her stability--her just being there is as important as any worker being present in the workplace, or moreso. It is her presence that gives the family a sense of well-being, of belonging, and of purpose in life. The new homemaker, no matter what her age, may not realize this, but if she will keep at it, she will see one day and be glad that she didn't give up her post and go to work for someone else.

There is an old story told of a mother who was doing some embroidery. Her little son was sitting at her feet and looking underneath at the messy threads criss-crossing in a tangled mess. "What are you making, mother?" he asked. "I'm sewing a basket of beautiful flowers," she said. "But mother, it doesn't look beautiful from where I'm looking," he complained.

"In a little while, I'll let you see it from above," she replied patiently. The little boy continued to watch and he still couldn't understand how his mother could be making something beautiful from such a lot of different threads and colors, for apparently to him, the threads were not in any kind of order.

Finally after awhile, his mother lifted him up to her lap so that he could see the beautiful picture she was making. "You see, " she said, "We can't always tell what the end result will be, for it often looks like we are making a terrible mess when we begin something worthwhile. When you are young, you don't always see the reason for things. You don't know you are doing things that will one day become beautiful."