Guarding the Home From Within.

Swan Cottage 1 by Sung Kim

Quotes by William Morris, 19th century textile designer and interior decorator:

"The true secret of happines lies in taking a genuine interest in all the details of daily life."

"Have nothng in your house that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful."

Simplicity of life, even the barest, is not a misery, but the very foundation of refinement; a sanded floor and whitewashed walls and the green trees, and flowery meads, and living waters outside.”

If I were asked to say what is at once the most important production of Art and the thing most to be longed for; I should answer; A beautiful House; and if I were further asked to name the production next in importance and the thing next to be longed for; I should answer; A beautiful Book. To enjoy good houses and good books in self-respect and decent comfort, seems to me to be the pleasurable end towards which all societies of human beings ought now to struggle.”

This post is directed to the young woman at home during her first year, but as all things, can be applied in any stage of life.

When I remember my childhood dreams, most of them were about having a house. At the time, it mattered not if it would be a little shack or even a tent. It was fun, to me, like playing house, to arrange it and make it my own. Playing house is important aspect of growing up, because it shows the thrill and delight of having a home. I remember this playing, and how we guarded these little pretend-dwellings against clutter that would make it undistinguishable from a barn. We wanted it to look like a home and feel like a home. We didn't like to have things in it that were not related to home living.

As years went by, we had to guard our homes against so much more, from within the house itself. There was the radio, the television, newspapers, magazines, the mail, and the telephone. In "the old days" these things were welcome friends from the outside world. The magazines depicted women as sweet, innocent lovers of the home, as evidenced by these vitage "Modern Pricilla" women's magazines.

You will have to scroll down quite aways on her site to see the covers of these magazines. I was so drawn into the feeling of love and home-nostalgia that looking at these covers, once again, gave me. Today, the magazines are often heavily laced with things of a less contended nature. So, we had to start guarding our homes against discontent. To explain this, let me give you an example of a morning television program.

The homemaker is doing a few things around the house and she is half-watching, half-listening to a broadcast about designer bags. They are shown in such a great light, and the model who is displaying them looks so sleek and sophisticated, that in comparison, the homemaker, just trying to pick things up and make her house nice for her husband, starts to feel a little put-out, peeved, disgruntled; and even resentful.

The bag looks so desireable, because it has a designer name right on the outside. Guarding our homes from within, meant that we had to continually re-focus on what our mission was, not on what the world was luring us to. The television could be a source of comparison that was not healthy for the home. The home had to be guarded against envy and against discontent.

Besides discontent, we had to guard our homes against time-wasters. Even though we didn't have the amount of media that is available to us today, there was always the danger of getting on the phone too often and too long, and in those days, it didn't have a very long chord. This was one thing inside our homes that could be a useful tool or a problem to guard against. Today we have cell phones, but they are not healthy to use. It is better, if you feel you must use one, to use the speaker phone feature on it, rather than hold it up to your ear. Media seems to be one of the biggest consumers of time that confronts the young homemaker.

We also had to guard our homes against the world's values and language. People coming home from work or school, tended to forget that the home was a sacred place, and it was not obligated to blend in with the rest of the world in order to make people feel "more comfortable." Women at home had to insist that foul language, the new slang and expressions, and scandalous talk, not be engaged in during dinner time or other times amongst the family. This kept the home a quiet, peaceful place.

There was also the constant change in decorating styles. As children in our play houses, we were content with a little broom, a mop, some calico curtains at the window, a box to sit on, and a bowl to wash dishes in. As grown-ups, we had to concern ourselves with many choices, and after the choices had been made, the glossy flyers would come in the mail advertising a new style of furniture that we would have liked better. There seemed to always be someone coming around the corner with another lure. Media had a great effect on the home, and it was the woman's job to guard the home from any type of publication, book, or literature that did not strengthen the marriage and the family. So, we had to guard our home, to a reasonable extent, against change. Change is not all bad. It is good to change your clothes for clean ones, change your furniture around, change your bad spending habits, change your erroneous thinking about certain philosophies, change the things that come into your house, and change the way you spend your time. The "change" that we have to watch out for, today, is the change that would cause instability, create more debt, or estrange your children and your husband.

To guard the home from within, a woman has to also guard her heart, for it can still be swept away by things that appear to be more fun, and easier. The grass, on the other side, still has to be mowed, and there is always a downside to things that seem to be more exciting, so she has to guard her heart continually. Sometimes the outside world can make life at home seem dull. One tactic to guard the home from this impression is to pay attention to the details of your life (note the quote by William Morris) and develop a new appreciation for everything. Putting your heart back into the home that God has provided you, can take away envy, discontent, time wasters and confusion.

When we were little, a lot of us in that era used to enjoy our things. We would wash our clothes by hand, hang them out to dry, iron them, and then hang them up according to color, in our tiny closets. We folded our clothes neatly into our dresser drawers. When we played house, our dishes were washed and dried and put away. We set the table in the highest fashion we could. We were happy to have a little home and our playing reflected it. I think we can take that same mood into our own, grown-up homes and make them a place of delight. The woman at home for the first time, will have to guard it from within, so that things take over her mind and her time, but in return she will have a bright, peaceful spot for her husband, that will make him sigh with relief when he arrives home from the stresses of the world.