The Importance of Being Home

Lighting the Way

by Michael Humphries

from Lovely Whatevers

Women were created to love and guide the family. The world may march on and shout "progress!" but if the home is neglected and children are not guarded,  or divorce is rampant, it cannot be progress.  If a woman can keep house, and raise her children with good values, keeping her marriage intact, that is real progress. We will find, in years to come, that the people in previous generations lived higher-quality lives, due to the fact they could hold their families together.  Despite all the modern counselling and marriage books, our generation has not been made better. 

A Little Piece of Heaven

by Klaus Strubel

from Lovely Whatevers

The question usually arises: "Is it too late for me?"  As long as we live 'n' breathe, I believe there is opportunity to get on the right track. No matter what you have done in the past, it is possible to leave that path and follow the path to peace: the old ways, where the good walk is; the way of the home and the family.  Despite deliberate attempts to do away with the family, it will never change. God would never have written that women should keep house, if it was impossible to do so.

Stay Awhile,

by David Knowlton

from Lovely Whatevers

There are several ways to find a model for the truth of how women can fulfill their responsibilities at home. One is the Bible. The apostle Paul told Christian women in several different letters to guide the home, guard the home, and keep house. (See Titus 2, and 1st Timothy 5:14 ).

Another way to gain knowledge of women's duties at home is to study the past, when more women stayed home. Contrary to popular modernist belief, women were not oppressed and unhappy, begging to leave their homes. To get women to leave the home enmasse, they had to be convinced that they were not needed there, and that they could not survive unless they worked outside the home, facts that simply were not true, but were spread by the media, the education system. The banks and real estate companies played a large part in getting women to believe they had to work outside the home, in order to qualify for home loans.

Long before this exit from the home, women stayed at home, whether they had children or not, because they knew it was their responsiblity and they would not neglect it. Their husbands did not make a fraction of the money that men make today, and yet most women stayed home and lived off their husband's salary.  They knew it was important to look after their own children and guide their behaviour. They knew that housekeeping was a full time job. It was instinctual.

 I believe today that we have on our hands a lot of disenfranchised women, who do not know where they belong or where they are needed or where they can best use their talents.  Certainly, the home provides a place of freedom, where a woman can try just about anything she wants, in order to develop talents, all the way from writing to designing to teaching her own children.  There is more variety in the things she does, and if she needs to rest, she does not have to worry about her job being on the line for taking a nap.

Next, are a few answers to objections regarding the importance of being home:

"Affording" It:  To relegate full time home making to a manner of  financing or expense , is to give it a materialistic value.  I am speaking from the view of a Christian who is committed to following the Titus 2 model. There is no mention of money in these passages. It is written in the Bible. If God commands something, and a person steps out on faith to do it, they will find that through courage, He will give them strength to do it. You might look up the word "courage" in the Bible, and do a word-study of it.

While it is true that men supported their families as late as the 1950's, it is not true that the cost of living was cheaper.  Most people did not have any credit to charge up huge amounts for their tractors or cars, and they had to pay cash for large items which they can get on credit today.  It was difficult, because you had to wait a long time to save up to get conveniences that come with the house today.  You would have to make do with some little thing, til you could save up for a stove or a fridge.  Yes, men supported their families, and more women stayed home and managed their family income, but it was not necessarily cheaper. It was a commitment involving the heart, and with it came the development of knowledge of how to keep house and keep the expenses down, and even make a profit. The problem is not whether houses cost more or less or salaries are bigger or smaller. The problem is one of the heart, one of determination and of commitment, and ultimately, one of belief.

Why Women Wanted to Be Home:  There was a natural instinct in many women that made them want to be at home looking after their own husbands and their own belongings and their own children. Women without children, in general, still felt the high calling of being home, and being the star of that home.  There was not as much pressure on them to leave and get a job, and if there had been, where would they go?  This was before the chain stores, factories, fast food places and office pools.

Carolina Evening 1

by Betsy Brown

from Lovely Whatevers

 A woman at home would have been secretly laughing if someone had offered to take her away from her home and make her go to work outside the home. Make no mistake: it is exhausting to work outside the home. Homemaking can also be tiring but it is regulated by the woman and she can choose what to do, when to do it, and how long she will spend doing it. At home, she is free to accomplish as much as she likes,  rest when she likes, pursue an interest in something she has a passion for, or go shopping when she wants to. That can hardly be said of the regime of the workplace.

If you have children, you have a solemn duty to invest yourself in their lives. If you are away from the home, putting your children in the care of other people, you are missing out on the fleeting years of their youth.  They need you the most, when they are young. It is best to put aside anything else and concentrate on them. You only have one chance at your child's upbringing.

(to be continued)