What is a Homemaker?

Housewife.

Homemaker.

Keeper at home.

What does that mean?

I think we all need to wrestle with this right here... right now. We all have a picture of what it looks like to be a keeper at home, yet... we're still not doing it. Our houses still look like... well, we know what our houses look like. Do we have the right picture? Is it even possible? Is the Proverbs 31 woman fictitious? Simply too good to be true? "A wife of noble character who can find? (Proverbs 31:10)" Is it just a cruel joke?... Haha, you can't! Gotcha!

First of all, no, she's not fictitious! King Lemuel's mother was passing on some wisdom to her son in this famous chapter of Proverbs. And though she seems impossible to attain... too good to be true in our feminism rich time and culture, I think it was much more common to find them back then than we would think. Don't get me wrong... she was no dime a dozen. Scripture says she was worth more than rubies. But in that culture... in that time... a woman's whole life revolved around her home. Around her family. While the boys went off to school, young girls learned how to be a keeper of the home right at their mother's knee. (What must that be like???)

Now that we have established that the Proverbs 31 woman was a real, attainable ideal for King Lemuel to look for in his day (and a real, attainable ideal for us to work toward!), let's get back to that original question. What is it? Sure, you could read the whole list in Proverbs (and we will get to that), but simpler... what is it???

Crystal Miller of The Family Homestead shares of a time a young woman asked her a similar question. Her answer... "Well, to put it into a nutshell, when your whole life is revolving around your husband you are on the right track!" (She expounds on that answer here.)

I love this! So not the answer you're expecting. So not what our culture would tell you. It's politically incorrect! It's anti-feminist! Maybe that is why I love it so much. Jesus told his followers in the Sermon on the Mount: "For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it." (Matthew 7:13) I believe this is true in every area of our lives... including this one. It may not be popular with the world to let our lives revolve around our husbands, but I'll tell you what... it sure will be popular with our husbands! Whose opinion do you care about more???


Our first step this last week was to get dressed. I can't believe I've made it this far (the weekend was rocky, but here I am again today... hair, shoes, dressed!)! Sound pathetic... or familiar? It's so easy to read about this stuff, to agree with it, to get pumped up. But to do it is hard. I can't tell you how many books I've read... but instead of stopping and spending the appropriate time making each chapter a reality in my life, I keep reading to find out what the next step is. By the time the books is finished, nothing's changed. Not this time. We're moving slowly (If you're joining us late... try to take your time. Implement the changes. You can still comment, participate, email... but take the time to do this in order!)

Keep getting dressed! Every day. Brush your hair. Pick out something feminine to wear. Put shoes on your feet. Try to step past "presentable".

Then spend some time thinking and praying about what it looks like to make "your whole life revolve around hour husband." If you don't know, ask him! Make some notes. Find out what areas of the house bother him most. You don't have to actually fix them yet. This step is to figure it out (if you want to get those dishes done for him right away, go for it, but don't let it stop you from thinking through what it all means!)

Accountability: Join me Thursday or Friday to share your "picture"of what this looks like either in your own blog post or in a comment here! I can't wait to hear it! Haven't shared your pictures of you dressed yet? You can do that then too. If we get 10 or more participants, I'll have a little giveaway! Join us!

Labels: Suzy meets P31

posted by ~Babychaser~ @ 10:14 AM