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That blank space on the application stares back at me. How do I sum up in one word all I do as a mom? Homemaker sounds so 1950ish. But it’s true. I’m a mom and a homemaker. Yes. I am in the business of making my home.

The online dictionary defines “make” as: to bring into existence by shaping or changing material, combining parts. 

Sounds like supernatural, creative work to me!

What I do as a homemaker is to bring my home into existence! Without a homemaker, there is no home. A house, maybe. But not a home. I get to shape and change the parts of the home (rooms, objects, systems) combining them in new and better ways to make my home the best home for my needs and my family. It is a work in progress. A living thing!

Why? Because home has an atmosphere. A tone. A state of being.

It’s also a work of art. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I want to bring beauty into my home. I want Jesus and I to bring it into existence together.

Where the Rubber Meets the Road

I believe this means God’s creative Spirit partners with us in bringing into existence a home that hosts His presence. He shows us what to do and how. He does this when we stay connected with Him in close relationship, just as you would spend time with a best friend.

He supernaturally brings the atmosphere and state of my home into being. Just as He created the world with the spoken word, so do I.

Our spoken words create the atmosphere in our home. <—-Tweet this!

Splashes of color and a certain style reinforces the atmosphere you’ve created and host in your own heart.But maybe you don’t feel you have a knack for interior design?

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In your home,  let your words be your paintbrush. Let your words be your textiles. Let your words bring light and life to home!

Jesus’ Divine Partnership with Us

Stephen (age 4) loves to organize. I think it is in the genes. My mom used to give me the junk drawer to tidy or the pantry to arrange as my chores. I loved it. It was fun. Child’s play to me. I see Stephen thriving in this same way. So I get him and he gets me. Lovely.

Since we’ve moved into our new house in Alaska, Stephen has been “decorating” his room by hanging artwork he has made or by placing toys on his head-board, hanging beads on his toy kitchen etc. Sometimes it looks cluttered to me and I have to resist the urge to gather all the odd bits into a storage bin in his closet.

But this is his art. His place to release creativity. And I believe God will enlarge his tent pegs. Today his room, tomorrow the world!

He remarked to me, “Mom, Jesus is decorating my room with beautiful.” That’s exactly how he said it. Could it be that Stephen is simply doing what He sees the Father doing? Could it be that Stephen at a young age is already experiencing this divine partnership with Jesus where God intersects our passions and giftings with His presence?

Wow! If we listen, our children can show us the way. I want more of that! Thank you Jesus!

Homemaking is a Declaration

Being a homemaker doesn’t have to be boring or bland. An occupation we are ashamed to admit on an application. It’s a declaration!

We are declaring we are co-laborers with God’s supernatural presence and power in our home- a place where Heaven invades earth. Because if Jesus goes before us to make a home for us in heaven, there must be so much more to this occupation than meets the eye (John 14:2-3)!

Jesus, give us the Spirit of wisdom and revelation so we can know and release your heavenly home in ours today!

How have you experienced His partnership as you go about the business of making your home?

Linking up at the Better Mom, the Modest Mom Blog, the Time-Warp Wife, Above Rubies

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Written by Contributor Polly Wick

Recently, I took the 30 minute online test to discover my 5 core strengths. Strengths Finder 2.0 by Tom Rath has been on the NY Times bestseller list for weeks.  The premise of the book is that we should focus on our strengths rather than our weaknesses. Hmm, what a concept!

The strengths I identified came as no big surprise to me but the detailed descriptions of each strength was fun to read and the suggestions of how to use them more fully turned out to be helpful. The take-away for me  was,  if we can come to a peaceful resolve with the woman God made us to be and focus upon our strengths we will be better wives, mothers and grandmothers.

What I like to do and do best is to be busy at home. Paul tells Titus that older women should teach younger women what is good. He lists being busy at home as one of those things.

Here is a list of  a few of my favorite things to be busy with and that helped our family when my kids were young. Hopefully my list will give you some ideas that you can build upon as wives and mothers in the home.

TIPS for How to Be Busy at Home

• Make the changing seasons a focus in your home. 

Use the flowers or leaves from the season, a book or poem that captures the mood, art that inspires and is fun to look at. Dedicate a place on a table that will become the changing still-life display. Art project, meals and outings can all celebrate the 4 seasons.

• Make the dinner hour the centerpiece of your day. 

Plan for it. Make it a priority. It will take time to shop and cook for the evening meal but the benefits last a lifetime. Give the children a napkin ring and placemat that is theirs alone. make it a ritual to light candles and say grace before eating the meal.

• Know your strengths.

Spend time doing what you’re good at and what you enjoy. Don’t spend years trying to improve upon your weaknesses.

• Garden while the children play outside. 

As they play you can weed, plant or pick. Let the rhythm of their play lend to the rhythm of yours.

• Celebrate your husband’s arrival home.

Anticipate the wind-down time he’ll need to transition. Give him the gift of a peaceful entry back to his home and family.

• Establish a hurry-free tone in your family.

Have breakfast and lunch making items in order and clothes and shoes ready to go. Give yourself time for quiet, devotions and thanksgiving before the day begins. If the intention is there, time can be found.

• Set up a craft table to work on projects with your kids (or grandkids) and make it a place for you too.

Making Christmas and birthday gifts is fun, meaningful for the receiver and will cost less too. Play and give yourself time to express your creative side.

“Then they can train the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God.” Titus 2:4-5

Do you know your strengths? Take some time to list your strengths. Then let them show up in your day and in your home. Be busy with the things and the people you love.

You’ve got to accentuate the positive,

eliminate the negative,

latch on to the affirmative,

and don’t mess with Mister in-between.

About Polly Wick

Polly Wick is a wife, mother of two grown children and grandmother to Madeline. Polly pieces together a handmade life with passion to teach, write, nurture, create beauty and serve. Polly teaches Pray With Ink, a workshop built on the foundation of prayer, using journal writing as a sweet and intimate way to pray to the Lord. Pray With Ink is designed for women who have found themselves to be strangers in their own life.

Besides writing her blog, Pray With Ink, Polly facilitates life changing workshops and retreats creating a warm and inviting environment and offers writing exercises that focus on gentle healing, daily prioritization and creating a vision for the future filled with passion and delight. Polly and her husband Tom attend Scottsdale Bible Church.

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