By now, I hope you have come to appreciate homemaking on a deeper level. I hope you have begun to realize that it’s more than mindless, endless housework.
Housekeeping may be the necessary first step, but the homemaker who has truly embraced her vocation goes far beyond mere cleaning and cooking.
She imbues her tasks with love. She ensures not only warm meals and clean clothes, but a peaceful haven for her family. She maintains her home as a lighthouse: washing the windows so they do not grow dim, and keeping the light burning at all times so that her home may shine out in the darkness of the world, offering safety and refuge to all who seek shelter.
Yes, the homemaker’s vocation may seem to be hidden away in her own house, but her quiet, steady influence permeates farther than she knows.
Her spouse and children bear some of its light out into the world, to their friends and coworkers. Her elderly neighbors feel the warmth of a homely house in fresh-baked muffins delivered with a smile, or a leisurely afternoon chat over the fence. Visitors to her house feel curiously at home, and take their leave reluctantly.
By practicing the Beatitudes and works of mercy in her own home, a homemaker slowly transforms the world around her.
By cultivating goodness, seeking truth, and loving beauty, she follows the call to constant conversion and becomes a pillar of strength to her family and all whom she meets.
Homemaking is, indeed, a vocation of utmost dignity.
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We’re about to dive into more practical considerations and applications of homemaking. But if you would like to read more about the theoretical and philosophical basis first, here are some articles to get you started:
The Disappearing Art of Homemaking