The Ultimate Homemaker

Ultimate Homemaker 

VINTAGE

“Vintage” Homemaking…

I had to look it up in the dictionary to be sure I was on the right track to write about it.  And here’s what the word  vintage means as an adjective —  it represents the high quality of a past time — like vintage clothes, vintage cars, and vintage movies.

So why would we want to embrace being vintage? Because it represents the best of what we can give our families.  You see, today’s modern world shows Martha Stewart or Nate Berkus as the ultimate homemakers/decorators…but consider…do either of them have the sort of marriage and family you desire?

We can look to magazines and pinterest to help us out as we decorate – I love the extravagant skills Martha, Nate and so many bloggers have —but without a heart in the home of you mama –the house is only a museum or shell.

The woman is the heart of the home.

Your heart for homemaking matters.

But sometimes in the midst of sticky tables, dirty diapers, laundry stacked high and socks and shoes sprawled  out all over the floor –we lose our heart for homemaking.  We grow overwhelmed, discouraged…and even angry and bitter.

And though there are Betty Homemakers of the past – vintage homemakers – that I like to look to as role models (such as Edith Shaeffer, Emilie Barnes or the Proverbs 31 woman – whose fear of the Lord beams from her home!) I have found that the one that encourages and inspires me most in my homemaking is…

The Ultimate Homemaker– God.

Colossians 1:16 says,

For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.

God created earth – our home –and wow did he make it gorgeous with volcanos and vast oceans and sunsets and snow capped mountains and sparkling stars and fire flies and  flavorful fruit and fancy fish and green grasslands and grand canyons and it’s not all just a feast for the eyes – but he made birds to sing – for our ears.  And He made food for us to feast on and flowers for us to smell and forests for us to take shelter under.

God is the Ultimate Homemaker.

Psalm 19:1-4 says

The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
Day after day they pour forth speech;
night after night they reveal knowledge.
They have no speech, they use no words;
no sound is heard from them.
Yet their voice goes out into all the earth,
their words to the ends of the world.

God’s creation communicates.

It speaks of his glory and his love and provision for us!

In the same way, the home we create for our family –communicates–it speaks. And so we can look around our home and ask ourselves – what does my home say?  Now don’t beat yourself up over dishes in the sink — because that says you fed your family. And don’t beat yourself up over baskets of laundry, that says you shopped for your family and provided clothing for them.

The question we want to answer is –how can we reflect God’s glory and love in our homes to our loved ones?

First, it’s through living out the gospel of unconditional love, sacrifice, grace and forgiveness in our homes.

Then, maybe it is through using the talents God has given you to decorate and make the space beautiful – as God has done in creation.

Maybe it’s through a cooking a flavorful meal in the kitchen, reflecting God’s provision.

Maybe it’s lighting a candle and taking an ordinary evening and making it special.

Maybe it’s turning on some soft music to change the mood in your home.

Maybe it’s through determining to smile even in the face of the trial you are in.

Maybe it’s through warm embraces and back rubs.

 I think we need a lot less Martha Stewarts in the world

and a whole lot more God followers.  

That’s ultimate vintage living!

Put your heart and faith into your homemaking.  Make your home a haven through following the example of the Ultimate Homemaker –our Almighty God.

**Chime In:  How has your faith influenced your attitude toward homemaking?  What are some practical ways you reflect the Ultimate Homemaker in your home?

Walk with the King,

Courtney

 

30 Comments

  1. Great post! I so agree. The older my kiddos get the more I GET what you’re saying. Us Moms ARE the heart of our homes…. we set the mood. I think it’s easy to lose sight of this when you are in the season of raising babies and toddlers….. and so wish I had kept this message in the forefront of my thoughts back then. PS ~ I have to ask… Did those sunflowers come from Costco? I have the same ones in my kitchen right now! 🙂

    1. We don’t have a Costco by us – so I know they aren’t from there but I’m not sure where they are from. My husband bought them for me – gold star for him right 🙂 Thanks for sharing your thoughts here Kim!
      Lots of Love,
      Courtney

  2. We are finishing up a kitchen remodel this week. Put in new flooring, a new countertop, new stainless steel sink and new gas stove!! SO exciting! Guess you could say that was my birthday present! lol Instead of new cupboards, the contractor took off the doors, sanded them down and re-stained them. So even though they aren’t NEW, they LOOK new and that’s just as good! It’s not a big kitchen, but it gets the job done.

    Now that my son is getting older,(still only 9) I think it’s more important that I am home for him in the evenings to monitor what he’s doing especially once he hits the middle school/high school years.

    Those Sunflowers are pretty! I wish we had a Costco closer…the nearest one is in Mayfield Heights.. Which is an hour away. I go to Sams Club regularly 😀

  3. I love this! I agree, I think we need less Martha Stewarts and more God followers too! In the world of pinterest, blogging, and facebook I think many women can fall in to the trap that our homes are suppose to look perfect (like these staged pictures) and that our marriages will look like the marriage photos someone bought off of istock! LOL But when we are following God it doesn’t always look like that, in fact it probably won’t…. after all He said “take up your cross, and follow me” and a cross doesn’t look like something you will find in Better Homes and Garden Magazines. Just some things I’ve been thinking about recently. 🙂 As always, love your blog!

  4. This post is inspiring! I’m 20 years old about to turn 21 in less than 3 weeks & I stumbled across this page and I’m so glad I did. I’m engaged and have a 3 month old son who was 13 weeks premature due to a car accident. Before I had my son I found it hard to want to keep a clean house or I was always yelling at my fiancé to help me clean and it didn’t matter to me if he worked or not I wanted help. After having my son something has really changed. I love taking care of my he and I can’t wait for when my son becomes older & he can do fun things with me. This post is just really inspiring and really helps reinforce the growth that God has allowed me to do as a women, mother and so to be wife. I have to admit that a lot of my problem was Facebook, I was addicted to it. I had to delete my Facebook in regards to the case that is going on against the guy who hit me. Once I deleted it I had a new found love for my home. My addiction now is pinterest. Pinterest is a great website because it inspires me to want to have a clean home. & want to decorate it. Looking at the pictures people post, it is easy to want the exact picture perfect home but then I realize that’s someone else’s home. That isn’t my home. So yes mine not going to look the same because I’m going to make my home look how I want it. We need more followers of Christ. God is do faithful and I have proof sleeping next to me in his bassinet that there is a God. If more people would just learn to have an opened mind and know that God didn’t always promise a perfect ride then we could havepre followers of Christ. These last 3 months for me were not easy but I trusted God every step and he lead me home with my baby. Christ followers are needed and wanted by Him. In a world like ours today it is so hard to be a F.R.O.G ( fully relying on God).

  5. While I love pinterest, the house inspiration for my home often ends up more like the “thinspiration” for fitness, meaning, I end up more discontent and discouraged. True inspiration should come from pure motives, not to impress the world, but to bring glory to the Lord. I finally realized that this was something I should bring to the Lord. I confessed my discontent, and asked for His hand to work in my home to be a place of order, peace, and beauty to reflect Him in my home. One day, when I had been completely disconnected from the world (lol, no computer) I was inspired to change the wall decor, I moved around photos, got creative with some random item around my house, put a coat of paint on small projects. Somehow everything came together perfectly, I was able to match colors, create a beautiful picture wall (almost pinterest like) and all with items I already owned!!! It may sound crazy to some but I believe when I finally submitted this to the Lord, He inspired me to use what I have to bring about beauty in my home! The Lord is good!

  6. Courtney, your posts always put things in perspective!

    I’m going to be a wife in a little under a month (eek!) and I glean so much inspiration from your blog…I can’t wait to read your book when it’s released!

    Thanks so much for always been an encouraging voice who stands behind God and His word…even in {opposite world}

    Blessings!
    Dolly

  7. Hi Courtney! Thank you for sharing this post! I’ve never looked at or thought about homemaking in this powerful way! When I hear homemaking, I automatically think about Pinterest, Lowes, Martha Stewart, HGTV, etc! Incorporating God’s heart never has, I’m ashamed to write that! I also joking say I don’t have a creative bone in my body! I’m one of those people who cannot come up with an idea, but follow someone’s else’s instructions to the T! I love to cook, but never thought of it as a gift. I just saw it as a means for my husband and I not to starve! Thank you for opening my eyes to the true meaning of being the Ultimate Homemaker; and putting a little more God into the home.

  8. Growing up, my friends flocked to our house. As we got older, friends would say, “Your parents are like the Cleavers!” (we’d heard of the Cleavers…but they were even a little before OUR time!)…”You have the best parents!”…”LOVE going to your house!”

    We never had a lot of money, but we had plenty of love. Mom started working full time when I (the youngest) started in school full days, but her heart was always in the home. Mom was always in the kitchen…or sewing clothes. Dad did a lot of cooking too, or gardening or could be heard “practicing” on the piano for Sunday’s service (he was the church organist).

    We weren’t perfect, but I am so thankful for the home my parents provided to me growing up. I can only hope that I do nearly as well in our home.

  9. Taking care of your family and home is also service to God! Changing the dirty diapers, laundry, cooking, cleaning and all the other “mundane” chores become so much luss mundane when I know that by doing these things I am also serving my Creator. At the end of my life I long to hear “Well done,my good and faithful servant,” from the Lord as I receive my crown!

  10. Courtney, thank you so much for the article! It is great and so relevant to me! We have been remodeling the whole 1st floor in our house since Christmas and all the work, dirt and chaos is getting to me once in a while. I am looking at all those gorgeous and perfectly organized houses and getting so upset sometimes. But you are so right that it about what we choose to value and appreciate! Thank you for a wonderful reminder.
    P.S. Remodeling is almost finished and soon I will be able to give some extra love to our home :).

  11. Such a wonderful post! I have a long way to go for our home to reflect God, unfortunately I am not a very good housekeeper. 🙁 But I have loved this Vintage series this week, it has given me such encouragement.

  12. I love your message!!!!! Making my home a haven by being more like the ultimate homemaker instead of like others who the world celebrates–wow!!! Thank you for pointing this out!!!!!! I am so inspired and encouraged!!!!

  13. I have two little ones under the age of two so it’s hard to keep my house as clean & organized as I would like. I just have to remember that what’s really important is spending time with my babies & teaching them to listen & follow God’s leading!

  14. Courtney,
    I am so thankful for your site. It has been such a blessing to me. When I first discovered your site you had mentioned lighting a candle I believe for 30 days and praying a blessing for peace for your household. I have taken that beyond 30 days and find myself praying for whatever and whomever has needs for that day. You are so right about having our homes reflect our faith and our love for God. I used to be so hung up on how clean my house was especially if my children were bringing friends home from school. I would ask them if the house was picked up, the bathroom was clean and were their rooms picked up. It finally got to the point where my son said to me that guys don’t care about that “stuff” and my daughter said her friends mom’s asked their daughters the same thing. That’s when I realized the only one worrying and fretting about it was me. My home became my idol. Now I pray that everyone who enters our home feels warmth, friendship, and God’s love and wants to know more about Him. Again, thank-you for all the words of encouragement. You truly are a blessing.

  15. I really liked this article and the balance it had between God’s grace and our responsibility. It outlined well how God’s grace helps us, but also about how the gifts and talents that His given us should be used to help our family and not be sitting idle. To often I read articles that use God’s grace as a way of justifying there actions, sometimes to justify a dirty house, poor diet, or lazy parenting. I liked that this article saw both sides of the story. Good one!

  16. Courtney…I have loved reading this post. It has hit close to home this week as I sit around and look at all the chaos going on in my home. I work two jobs, take care of my 4 children, tend to my hubby, somewhere in there I am struggling with my home not looking like the pretty pictures in magazines and pintrest. I find that spending time with my family and God is much more precious to me than making my house “picture perfect”…Thank you for putting things into a much better view for me. Have a blessed evening!

    Smiles & Blessings,
    Robin 🙂

  17. After lots of prayer my husband and I made the decision for me to be a SAHM when the Lord blessed us with kids after many years of infertility. Don’t regret that decision at all. I love and feel extremely blessed to be able to stay at home to care for my family and our home. Philippians 2:14 says Do everything without grumbling or aguing, so with that in mind, on those days when things aren’t going smoothly and I feel like complaining, I recall this verse and our decision for our family. I feel God has called me to be a SAHM, so who am I to complain about what He’s called me to do. Not to mention Colossians 3:23 comes to mind just as often…”Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters.” These two verses have greatly influenced my homemaking over the almost 20 years we have been married. I have often shared these verses with other women who are also SAHMs and how they influence me in what I do, how I do it, and how I respond to and interact with my family. Several of these women have said what a difference it makes when they look at things that way. So really more than anything it is my faith that influences my homemaking.

  18. I enjoy cooking meals for my family. It gives me joy to see them enjoy what I cook. So even when I ‘m tired and not really feeling like doing it I think about how they enjoy it and it gives me perseverance. Thanks for your encouragement.

  19. Hello. What wonderful, blessed words. We decided that I would become a SAHM when our daughter was 15 months old. I always thought that I could “do it all”. Work, Keep house and husband happy, as well as be “totally available” to our baby. uhuh…right. Every morning that I took her to daycare, I felt as if I were dropping our dog off at the end of a dirt road. I would arrive at work, not giving my full attention, forget having any fuel left for my husband at the end of the work day! When we made the decision, it was instant relief. He said to me “we’ll figure it out”. Going from a 2 paycheck home to 1. We have not regretted the decision. She will be 10 years old in November, when her friends come over, there is actually FOOD (not junk) to eat, they are usually in awe of it. And we will often hear them telling her “your house smells clean and it feels warm”. Her response? “It’s because my momma is home for us” ( she is an only child, the “us” she refers to is she & her daddy). Have we made sacrifices? Yes, do we regret them? NO. We wouldn’t change it for anything! If you are thinking of staying home with your child(ren) it will pay HUGE rewards for you, your children AND YOUR HUSBAND….You will be able to have the time and energy to give to your family that they deserve and that God intended! I believe this with my whole heart.

    1. Kelly, I just felt I had to comment on your post! Reading it gave me such a warm fuzzy feeling 🙂 I’ve been a working mum and a SAHM (which is what I do now) and after years of feeling like I wasn’t contributing enough to my family and feeling worthless in the eyes of others for staying home, I’ve finally embraced my role and can see that God has moved things around in my life pretty radically to put me here. I hope that in the years to come my children appreciate me being home (my husband already does) and you have inspired me to do that little bit better at my God given job!! Thank you xx

  20. Such an inspiring post to create a home -with my unique style, not like my friends or Martha Stewart but with the abilities that God has given to me. Ah yes, my heart resonates with this post. Thank you for sharing! I want to make my home a place where Jesus is shared with each other and others entering our doors, the first and second commandment as our motto. I also like to create in many and various ways as time allows me to do so.

  21. When Christ is the center of the home, and the wife is tuned in to Him, then He flavors the home through her. That is how I approach things in our home together of over 33 years. When I invest time in prayer, Sacred Scripture, being loving, gentle, kind and listening, then I become a conduit for allowing the love of Jesus to flow into our home and lives. Granted, I am not the only conduit, but being one allows the Holy Spirit to come and reign and work here, and that benefits my husband and me, and it flows out to our two daughters and granddaughter. Making one’s self available to God, Who waits for us to spend time with Him, keeps the ball rolling, keeps our chins up, helps our minds, emotions, bodies, and souls, thereby aiding us in being great women for the Lord.

  22. Oh my… what a blessing all of the comments are, not to mention your very encouraging post, Courtney. Thank you so much for using your gifts in this way. Things are so much more clear in my head now!

  23. THANK YOU for this post. How quickly we can get wrapped up in the “Martha projects” or “pinterest ideas” and truly forget where we need to turn for inspiration. I want my home to burst over with love for the Lord and spill over into every aspect of our lives, and our neighbors and friends lives. Thank you for the reminder to keep our focus upwards.

  24. Hi Courtney,
    Sometimes I just can’t believe how fast time goes by–my daughter (only child) is now an “early teen” as I call her. Although we have sustained trials, I have been blessed work part time in a way that allows me to be at home the whole time…all the riches in the world can’t buy that. Really. Confirming your post, our house has not been shangri-la, by any means. But I strive to bring God’s heart into my home to the best of my ability, and especially when it’s difficult. The result? My daughter’s friends want to hang out here–not at the fanciest house, but at my humble, reasonably kept home where they are loved and fed. How important is that? We get to model how to take care of ourselves and a family–a lost art. We get to own our femininity. We get to feel close to the Lord in service. I love motherhood, and I thank God for the many lessons and blessings motherhood entails.

  25. Thank you so much! Recently I have been struggling with keeping our home. I was definately reaching the feeling bitter end of things. This has inspired me and woke my mind up. I had not thought of keeping my house as a way to follow God’s example and to honor him. Bless you for making a difference in this girls life!!

  26. Homemaking is something I am learning on my own, 4 kids deep and expwcting our fifth in March! My mom was a career woman and while I appreciate her hard work to provide, I longed for her presence and a haven feeling home. This, combined with what God commands, has fueled my desire to be the best I can be at home.
    I have been taking steps to get the hang of it- a marker board on the fridge to keep track of tasks and my weekly memorization verse that pertains to anxiety or womanhood, my children hear me pray Lord, help me to be motivated to be the best mom and wife I can today, and I have begun to fill our home with artwork containing bible verses to create a quiet but persistent reminder of what the core of our home is.
    Ive been spending a lot of time ib your website and others similar to you and you all have been such an amazing blessing! I went to liberal college and it’s been a struggle to “de-program.” Ladies like you have been wonderful in my walk- thank you ????

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