Guarding the Home

Roses Aplenty by Riccardo Bianci from allposters.com

The Bible instructs women to "guard the home*Volumes of books could probably be written about this subject. All the teaching materials of the past and the present would still not cover all the facets of guarding the home, but I will cover just a few things here.

It comes down to the fact that you cannot guard and guide the home if you aren't there. I'm not saying you stay "locked up," in the house, as many would believe, but that your major concern is the care of that place where the family dwells together. Houses left empty of people all day will not have the same loving atmosphere as houses where there has been life and learning taking place. You can sense something in a house where people have been content. You can also sense something missing in a place that has not been occupied during the day. That sense is often created by evidence. An unoccupied home will lack the care and the touches that require quiet thought and steady attention. An occupied home will show the things that someone has been doing during the day: a glass of fresh flowers, a porch neatly arranged, and a fresh soup on the stove. These can surely be done by the working woman, but not at leisure, with as much time to spare.

A home is miniature nation. Just as a country has to have borders that are protected, the home has to be protected against things that would tear it down and cause it to lose its distinction. The family begins with a married couple and is extended with children. This can vary, of course, depending on the circumstances, but in general, it is good to try to get as close to the Biblical model of the home as we can. When Ruth, the Moabitess was with her mother-in-law, Naomi, that was the only family they had: a daughter-in-law living with her mother-in-law. All the husbands had died and the nearest relative was a distant one. There, two non-related women lived together because they were at one time related by marriage. Both husbands being gone, the two were still knit together because of their common values. Their family situation changed once Ruth married Boaz and had a child. The family then consisted of husband, wife, child and grandmother.


There will always be variations of the family, but in general, it is people who are related to each other. There will of course, be strangers sometimes in a home, but it must be guarded against the interference of people who just "love" your home and family and want to "soak up" the atmosphere. Their presence could be intimidating, and time-consuming. We have to guard against too much interaction with others in the home. The best way to do that is to have deliberate, prescribed times that you plan, in which you embrace the Christian concept of hospitality for a time. When the hours that you devote to that is over, the guests can go home. If you have small children in the home, company can be a trial to their behavior and to their rest time. If you are just married, company can be wearing on your marriage. Guard against interference.

Slyly, with careful wording, some try to teach that the family is out-dated, useless, and being replaced by the state in function and form. The following articles show the modernists plan for women, to cheat them of their God-given, and natural roles as wives, mothers and homemakers: http://www.newswithviews.com/Stang/alan4.htm Look for the responses to this article by victims of feminism here http://www.newswithviews.com/Stang/alan40.htm

Even if a home consists of a mother and children, it is her own domain, where there is privacy from the invasion of other people and their beliefs, and where they are free to develop their own personalities and increase their faith. As a nation should be protected by borders, so a home is protected by its own borders. In this article I will try to explain some of the reasons a homemaker will have to guard her home.

Guard the home against inside invasion : You have the doors locked and you have turned away the pesky neighbor children who want your children to come out and play, but are you being careful about the kind of influence that may be invading your home from the inside? Televisions broadcast anything but the idea of parents being the ultimate caregivers and authority over children. Children (and parents), husbands and wives, can get different ideas from media, and they may not even realize how much it is influencing them. Guard the home by selecting only the very best media for your family. Your home library should consist of books and magazines that are uplifting and promote the love and beauty of the home and honor of parents. There are great science videos and enriching stories and lessons that you can obtain for your video library. Even these have to be carefully perused for soundness and faith. Make sure all books and publications are beautiful and worth having for generations.

Guard against outside invasion: There are always those who will want to visit, and it is a great opportunity to show Christian hospitality. Know when your friends are invading your time and interfering with your family and have the courage to put a stop to it.

Guard the home against economic failure: Advertisements and the influence of friends can persuade us that we should buy this or that, but it is possible to protect your family income from economic invasion. Just use any bonus you get to pay a bill and get yourself free from financial burdens. Instead of buying something new, dig a little deeper inside your house and find old things and use them up. Use up all the paper in your scrapbook collection. Use up all the fabric in your stash. Use up all the pens and pencils. Wear out all your shoes. Wear out clothes. Wear out appliances and then do not replace the small ones unless there is enough money. If you think of a product or a service that you are paying for, think, "How can I do it myself?" You will find there are many things you don't have to pay for, and you can protect the money coming into your home; protect it from going out again. Sometimes just learning to turn off things that run up bills, can reduce your expenses. If you raise your children not to desire the world's goods, you will save yourselves a big expense. New clothes, shoes, entertainment, and vehicles can really strain the family economy. Instead of creating an expense, teach your children how to create an income.

To guard against economic loss, do not hand out money for unplanned activities just because the children want to go do something that costs money. Most of the things they want to do, can be done at home, from sports to entertainment, for free, like people have always done for generations. Do not hand out money to them unless they have earned it and teach them carefully what to spend it on. If you are really fortunate, you will be too poor to let them spend it on whims. They will need it for their own toothbrushes, soap, socks and shoes. I always felt we were blessed not to have money

Roses Aplenty by Riccardo Bianci from allposters.com





Guard the home against wastefulness:











Guard the home against criticism:











Guard against complaining:











Guard against disorderliness:











Guard against false philosophies:









Keep inside your home:







Guard against disturbing noise:







Guard against complaining:







Guard against false reports: