Seeing to the Family Needs as a Homemaker

I call my parents most every Sunday. It’s a habit my oldest sister established when she first left home. Some of my siblings call regularly and others when they can. I often call throughout the week, but generally try to call every Sunday whenever I can.

 If for some reason I do not, say when I over schedule the day, then they will wonder if something might be wrong until they hear from me.

This afternoon, my family and I went out to lunch after morning worship. Then we needed to buy my beloved some new dress clothes for work. He recently got a promotion which now means he is required to dress in button down and ties.

His wardrobe needed a bit of updating. So after lunch we headed off to Kohl’s, they were having a Clearance Sale. 40% Off the already reduced clearance prices. We were able to get him 5 new button downs and 2 new pairs of slacks for only $86 that was a savings of $285. I love when I find really good bargains!

When we got home I set about working to get his new clothes prepped for wearing to work. Let’s just say ironing and sewing were involved. Neither of which are my favorite things to do.

Some older items needed mending, newer items and laundered items needed ironing. Then there was the pairing of items. This took almost the entire afternoon.

As I was standing at the ironing board thinking to myself about how much I don’t like ironing, my mind went back to a podcast I had recently listened to from Come Fill Your Cup.  In it Erin Wells and Erin Sprouse were discussing the Titus 2 woman.

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Remembering my Goal of being a Titus 2 Woman

For those of you who may not know what I am referencing, the Titus 2 woman can be found in the Bible book of Titus chapter 2. In this chapter the writer, the Apostle Paul, is discussing the roles of men and women in the church. He instructs older women to teach younger women to love their husbands and children and to be keepers at home.

“the older women likewise, that they be reverent in behavior, not slanderers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things— ⁴ that they admonish the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, ⁵ to be discreet, chaste, homemakers, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be blasphemed.” Titus 2:3-5*

Here I am quoting from the New King James Version, in it the term is homemaker is used. Other versions say busy at home, or keepers at home.  All of them are referring to a woman being responsible for the maintaining and upkeep of the day to day activities with in the home.

But this isn’t a new concept only found in the New Testament of the Bible, in the Old Testament we can refer back to Proverbs 31. In it King Lemuel muses on what he had learned from his mother. He discusses what he calls the Virtuous woman. We are told that her husband trusts in her, that she willingly works with her hands, she buys and sells flax and wool. She provides food and clothing for her household and even for her servants. She plants a vineyard and even sells the produce which is grown. The passage references her at the spinning wheel, thus making thread for garments. This virtuous woman, is a model for women everywhere to strive to be.

This however is a major contrast for how many modern day women are choosing to live. We hear so much about women’s rights, equality with men, working wives, working moms, career woman and so on and so on.

These terms were started during the 60’s generation by women who sought to abandon what they saw as out-dated stereotypes.  These women went on to, in the natural course of life, bring children into the world and taught their daughters to be career minded. But something was happening during that time. Those little children whose mamas were out there making careers for themselves were learning to fend for themselves. We now live in a society dominated by selfish behaviors. We live in a society that seeks to satisfy it’s own lusts without thought of consequence to those around them.

Honoring the Lord as a Homemaker

Many women in the church are seeking to return to the godly principles found in scripture. Now,I’m not saying that a woman cannot work outside the home. Clearly Proverbs 31 indicates that this virtuous woman, buys and sells land, sells produce and buys flax and wool. This could very well indicate that she worked in business. Even the women who followed Jesus supplied him of their substance, Luke 8:1-3.

So there is a place for women to work outside the home in our society. Yet clearly, if we follow scripture such as Titus 2 we see that our responsibility is to submit to our husbands in love, to care for in love the children and to take care of the home. We cannot ignore this scripture nor the others such as Ephesians 5 and Colossians 3 which tell wives to submit to their husbands as to the Lord.

So if we choose to work outside of the home we must also see that we can not allow that to be an excuse to neglect the home, we still have a duty to follow through and be keepers at home too. We make the choice.

I say all of that, because as I learned on the podcast which I listened to we are to do these things, so that “…the word of God is not maligned.” It isn’t to seek praise for ourselves, nor is it out of compulsion but so that God will be honored and His Word not maligned. Maligned means to speak evil of, to slander, defame or blaspheme.

As I was standing over the ironing board, thinking about how much I don’t like to iron, I realized that I should look to such tasks not for the chore that they can be, but for the joy they can bring by soul when I follow the lead of my Savior by doing His will and being a keeper at home.

Later, after evening worship as we were driving home, my beloved asked me if I called my parents today.  I replied, “No, I was ironing your shirts.” He went on to jokingly ask me if that’s what I was going to tell them, that I neglected to call them because I was ironing his shirts. I replied, “No, I’m going to tell them I was doing Titus 2.”

 

 

*Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.