If All You Do...

                             

There are such a lot of opinions about what women should be, or what they should be doing or not doing, that I wanted to drop by here and leave a brief message about it.  The  news media barrages us with the worries of the world, making it hard to really relax and be happy with the life and the duties that God has given us. We think we must occupy our minds with problems or that it is our duty to worry about the whole world.

                                  

If all you do is make a cup of tea in a pretty cup and sit by the window with the sun coming in across your chair, you are doing something important and constructive. You are resting for a few minutes and thinking about your goals and dreams for your home and family.  You are doing enough, and you will find, with all there is to so, there is barely time for that.

One of the commands of the New Testament is that Christians should rejoice and be happy. These days we are made to think we are somehow hard and unfeeling if we attempt to get away from the pressures of the world and retreat to our homes to homeschool our children, paint pictures, sew, and take tea, be happy. 

 I love these old paintings depicting contentment, also a Biblical teaching. Even though the artists lived during a time of "wars and rumors of wars" they managed to concentrate on their mission, their work. While all the stress of their times is past and forgotten, these artists left something lovely and worthwhile. As the Bible says, people's works live long after they die.

       

When the cares of the world make you feel defeated, there are a few simple things you can do.  Remember that Titus  2 and I Timothy 5:14 give Christian ladies permission to focus on the home and family. It does not say they must scurry around solving the social problems of the world, but in being a homemaker, a woman does solve a lot of things. For one, she is not contributing to the chaos in the world. She is putting her house in order, teaching her children and being a good wife.  There will be less complaining and fewer troubled children for society to deal with.

                             

                                  

So, if all you do today is dress up for church, attend worship, and later have a simple meal at home, it is enough. Leave a memory of something good and lovely, and do something worthwhile in your home. Substitute a good thing for a worry.  Use stress as a trigger for getting busy making something better at home or improving yourself.

                               

                                                             Dressed to Go Shopping 

If all you do during the week is dress in a beautiful way that inspires you, and if all you do is clean house and stand back and look at it with pleasure; if all you do is think on things that are lovely, you are pleasing to Christ and it is enough.  

Ladies sometimes worry that they are not doing enough ministry or charity, but if all they do is serve their own families and try to live lives of good example, it is a good thing and is very effectively evangelistic and charitable. 

One of the best ways to reduce anxiety is to make your home a lovely place to be and to serve tea to lift the moods of your loved ones (or yourself)be creative, have the teaching of kindness on your tongue.

Do not stretch your time and energies beyond your limits, because it can cause anxiety.  So if all you do today so try to enjoy prettiness, serve your own family and be thankful for the food set before you, it is enough.