“If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michaelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, ‘Here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.” -Martin Luther King Jr.
I’m called to be a homemaker, a mother, a wife.
To make a home full of hospitality, delicious food, prayer, and God’s truth to be taught and exampled in life.
Where family are accepted and loved unconditionally despite their failings.
Where Christ is depended on daily to ease our stresses, guide us, listened to, and where He pours His blessings on us in our quiet calls for help.
Full of leaning towards future hope, towards grace and forgetting mistakes, the past, letting go of pain.
Where we celebrate clean sheet night and have funerals for hamsters
Where we learn and experience the rich and the good and are protected from the shallow trash of this world in disguise as joy.
Full of order and predictable rhythms that make everyone feel safe.
With daily messes of play-doh, construction paper, spilt milk, glue, stains, and muddy shoes.
Full of dancing and singing but also quiet, introspective learning and daydreaming.
Where we step away from our jobs and listen to the little ones talk for twenty minutes about important nonsense.
Filled with tears and cuddles, often wakings in the night, colds, disgusting body fluids and stupid jokes.
Where my boundaries are sacrificed and replaced with gentle giving and again replaced with Christ’s strength.
Filled with smells of frying garlic onions, and crusty warm breads for dipping in soup.
Where Christ leads my husband and my husband leads us and we follow where they go.
Where you are my brave king and I am your beautiful queen and we give generously of all our blessings to those who are hurting.
Where we don’t give up on each other, we don’t criticize unnecessarily, and we laugh as often as possible.
Tagged: Arts, Family, Ludwig van Beethoven, Marriage, Martin Luther King, Michaelangelo, Michelangelo, Relationships, Shakespeare, Street sweeper, William Shakespeare
Sis, you have such a positive message here…Thank you! Sometimes it is hard to forget the important job that God has entrusted us with when you are knee deep in bodily fluids and scrubbing a toilet:) Thanks for reminding me:)
Bea
Glad you liked it Bea, your stories have been really good lately too.
It’s a great quote and so true. Like you said, we need to do the best at whatever it is we are called to do.
I really like that song you linked to.
Btw, my blog moved. Here is the new address: http://larrydbernstein.com/me-myself-and-kids/
Well it’s nice to meet you Mr. Bernstein! i’ll be sure to follow.
Cool.
The other day I played that song like 5 times in a row. It really is catchy and I like the words.
I like the line “don’t pay no mind to the demons they fill you with fear”
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It sounds like you are doing your job well. Don’t ever give up. help will always be provided by His grace and the little ones will provide reason for laughter and a renewed sense of purpose.
Did I forget to mention my food isn’t always delicious?
Actually, I was going to ask about the fried garlic onions and warm crusty bread recipe but felt it would dilute the sincerity of the comment. Haven’t made the meatloaf yet. And you thought I haven’t been paying attention, didn’t you? Been a while, but was it you that tried making the English muffins from scratch. If so, I could perhaps dig out a stored recipe for English muffin bread. Easy peasy.
I just use a bread machine http://allrecipes.com/recipe/sweet-dinner-rolls/
And we fry the onions with garlic and a little butter or oil before adding the meat. The onions sweeten the meat.
There I go letting my beta side slip out, but if you love to eat, you really need to learn to cook your favorite dishes at the very least. Love making chili, grilling burgers and steaks, folding a good omelettes, and baking quiche. Don’t do quiche much anymore. Like corn pudding, my wife doesn’t like the texture of the eggs as cooked. Time to get on with the home schooling there.
What an encouraging quote and post Sis. Being the one who stays behind in the home is an honour that’s full of the weight of the responsibility. As the ‘acting’ leader I step into that position for him in his absence – there is no, ‘just’ a homemaker.
That’s one of my husbands favorite quotes.
Love this post, it’s so easy for me to get sidetracked and not try my best but try to do just enough to get by.
My wife really liked your post, she brought it up at our small group last night. Thought I’d let you know.
that’s really cool, I’m glad she liked it.