October 3, 2013



Ok, let's try this again.


The author of my current Bible Study, The Five Aspects of Woman (www.fiveaspects.net) makes a distinction between housekeeping, homemaking and housebuilding.

The first, housekeeping, is the cleaning, fixing and polishing of everyday life.   I have known women who excel in this.  I have a friend who regularly vacuums her ceiling.   There is a board on my Pinterest  just for this, in hope of some miraculous  way it will all be accomplished without having to lift a finger.   Alas, it still hasn't happened.

Homemaking is by far my favorite.   This is creating a pleasing environment in which to live.  ( I used "pleasing"; too many Jane Austen movies lately.)   This is the decorating, cooking, the gardening, arranging of flowers, music, candles. 

The last is housebuilding.   Housebuilding is the most important of the three.  It is the mark you leave on society.   Encompassed in this is your relationships with neighbors, family, friends and strangers.   It's the atmosphere of your home.  Have you been to a perfectly decorated, spotless home for a gourmet dinner and felt completely uncomfortable?   And have you sat at a kitchen table with a chipped cup of coffee and store bought cookies and felt soothed and refreshed?  

Where will your home fall in this spectrum?   Is your goal to wow and amaze people, or to encourage and delight?

In the beginning....

How does one begin a blog?

Sharing thoughts, motives, daily life, it seems too personal to put out for public viewing.

But yet, I am at a time in my life where I should be giving, helping, encouraging others.

And so I begin.

My hope is that what I share here will give you inspiration and guidance.  This is a blog about daily living with people.  How can we reach out to others?  How can we bless them?  How can we comfort and uplift?  How can we incorporate these things into our daily lives?  How do we train our minds to think outside of ourselves, to think of others?

At the same time, I hope to encourage in your own homes, with your own families.  Your outreach begins at home.  The first people to bless, comfort and uplift should be your own family.  These are the people who often get the least of our attention, they end up with whatever is left over.   We say things to our husbands and children that we would never say to a friend or neighbor.  Love begins at home.