If you read last month’s post, you saw that I struggled to choose between two topics: marriage and the Word of God. I decided to do both. Well, I think focusing on both of those things allowed me to naturally lead into what I chose as my topic for April: Home.
I know what you are thinking, “Tanisha…we are all trapped at home, so that’s an easy one.” Well, first off, you aren’t trapped at home. You are safe at home. Home should be a sanctuary for you. More on that later.
Second off, I am a hardcore homebody. I’ve always been a homebody, but in 2017/2018, I forced myself to go out and be more extraverted and do more things, and I promise you I am still recovering from that. 😂
So when I returned home from my sabbatical, I struggled to leave the house even for the simplest of tasks. I ordered my groceries online. Amazon became my BFF again. My hubby made sure I had gas in the car.
And it wasn’t until my therapist told me I need to get outside the house more that I became intentional about going to the store more frequently or helping friends with their dog a few times a week. But my preference was still being home. It also helps that I am a housewife. I have heard from a few other homebodies who are saying now that we aren’t able to go anywhere even if we wanted to, they realized that they aren’t much of a homebody. That is not me at all. Yes, I would like to go to the grocery store when I want, but not much has changed for me. (I recognize the blessing in this)
But what I noticed is that now that we are forced to stay at home, a lot of people are having a hard time just being in their homes. It’s almost like they don’t really like their home much. And that breaks my heart.
So it made me think, how can I help people see that they should love their home more? What is it about our homes that make us want to be elsewhere? Our responsibilities? Chores? Our housemates?
When I made the transition to housewife, I struggled with the idea that I now had increased responsibility at the house even though I wasn’t the only one living there.
My mindset didn’t change until an older friend shared with me that when she is doing tasks around the house, she prays while doing them and is grateful for having them to do. While she is doing laundry, she is thanking God for clothes her family wears. While washing dishes, she thanks God for the food that they get to eat.
Honestly, it made me feel ungrateful. The same things I complained about were things that I prayed for at one point in time. I made the switch to being grateful for all that I had, but since I’ve been back from my sabbatical, I’ve been slacking a little bit.
So last month, when focusing on the Word of God and my marriage, it naturally led me to wonder, what could I do to show my gratefulness and thanksgiving to God better? What could I do to show my husband that I love and appreciate him, mainly because he is the one in our family that goes out every day and works? And it all comes back to making my home the sanctuary I knew it could be. Which automatically makes me think of my favorite verse in Titus.
‘the older women likewise, that they be reverent in behavior, not slanderers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things— that they admonish the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste, homemakers, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be blasphemed.’ Titus 2:3-5 NKJV
I love the NKJV version of this verse because it explicitly says homemakers. Other translations say workers at home, keep a good house, makers of a home [where God is honored], keepers at home, work in their homes, taking care of their household, busy at home, and working at home. But I’ve also come across another verse recently that has helped me as well.
‘But we encourage you, brothers and sisters, to do this even more, to seek to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you, so that you may behave properly in the presence of outsiders and not be dependent on anyone. ‘ 1 Thessalonians 4:10b-12 CSB
So for April, I am going to do my part to be thankful and fall in love with my home again. I’m going to make sure that it is a place that my husband can be proud to come to. And to focus on removing a lot of the noise that surrounds our lives and to lead a simpler and quiet life. If you know me or followed my social media for a while, you may know that I love routines, cleaning, and organization. I will be showcasing how I use all three of those to achieve my goal for this month. But because I am a researcher at heart and love seeing how other people do things, I will be checking out and trying different methods. I hope that you join me this month in curating your home and setting the atmosphere that you want. Leave me a comment down below what you love most about your home.
