The Pleasant Home: No place for worry!

In Ohio there is a tombstone of a woman who died in 1888 at age 74 years and 8 months. Below her name and dates is reads, " She made home pleasant." I keep a photo of  this tombstone in my Bible as a bookmark. There are so many things that only God can do for our children, but with God's help I can give them a pleasant home.  I think of the Proverbs 31 woman, strong and dignified ( vs. 25), laughing at the days to come ( vs. 25) and  working with delight ( vs. 13). Worry was not part of her daily agenda! She was simply going about the things that were her job, doing them well, and not trying to do the things that belong to the Lord. Don't you know that the atmosphere benefited mightily from this?!

This week we sent our two ( very excited!) oldest children off on a mission trip.We didn't send them to remotest part of the world, but we still sent them away from us and out of our care. The pastor/friend who is going on the trip came up to me and jokingly said, "So, you are trusting us with the children you have invested the most in..." I didn't have time to answer him before someone else needed his attention, but in my heart I said, "They belong to the Lord, not me...always have, always will." This is harder to say at sometimes than at others, but it is always true. And as the mother of a couple of older children who are standing at the edge of the nest flapping their wings, I say these words to myself more often than ever.  The very hairs on their heads are numbered  (Luke 12:7) by the One who formed them in the first place, their days were written down by the Lord before one of them came to be ( Psalm 139:16), His hand will lead them and take hold of them where ever they are  (Psalm 139:7-10).  To the Lord I  say, "Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me and know my anxious thoughts; And see if there be any hurtful way in me, And lead me in the everlasting way."

Over the past few years the Lord has been doing a gradual work in my life, increasing daily joy and decreasing stress and worry. This has been independent of circumstances, which (excluding times of extreme crisis) are overall no better or worse that they were years ago. It has been a work of the heart: choosing joy, relinquishing control, resting in God's sovereignty.  Am I there yet? By no means, but there has been progress!  Our lives are singing something to our family and to a watching world...is it a song of stressful discord or a song of joy? Rest in the Lord, let His word do a good work in your heart each day,  and work with delight to make your home pleasant.


This post is linked to Our Simple Country Life, Far Above Rubies and Raising Homemakers.