Monday, June 27, 2011

Lesson 16 - A Heart That Weaves a Tapestry of Beauty

That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed. – Titus 2:4-5

Let’s look at what this scripture is telling us…

The meaning of “that they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children” is, that they should instruct them to have their desires and passions well regulated, or under proper control.

In Eph. 5:25, Paul directs husbands to love their wives, and in Eph. 5:33, the wife to reverence her husband, and here he says that it should be one of the first duties; the wife should love her husband.

All happiness in the marriage relation is based on mutual love.

The second half of our text scripture is “To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed.”

To be discreet – This means to be pleasant, calm, self-controlled. Chaste – means to be pure - in heart, and in life. Keepers at home – means to be characteristically attentive to domestic concerns, or to duties in the families.

To successfully make the home of our dreams and God’s call a reality, we have to be there, working and weaving on it every day!

Homemaker = home lover

Weaving a tapestry of beauty in our homes also calls for action. This project called “home” takes effort and time each day.

The effort and the activity – the time, the work, the care, and the mental and physical muscle – combine to make a home beautiful.

How does a woman who wholeheartedly wants to weave a tapestry of beauty in her home begin?

Understand the beauty and blessings of God’s will for you.

Understand that homemaking can be learned.
Who are people that you can talk to for tips on cleaning and organizing that can help you with your own home?

Be home more often.
Organize your outings.

If you have a job outside the home, consider these two ways to be better organized so you can spend more time at home. First, run errands on the way to and from work. And second, use your lunch hour!

We have talked about what we are working to improve in our lives as we strive to have a heart after God.

1. Preparing ourselves spiritually and physically by setting aside time alone with God.
2. Having meals together at the table for special family time.
3. Work to improve the mood in the home…more positive and uplifting than negative.
4. Consulting with our spouses to see if there is anything we can do to lighten their load.
5. Keeping a neat and orderly house.
6. Responding positively to our spouse.
7. Seeking to meet our husband’s needs.
8. Putting our spouse before our children.
9. Personally meeting and greeting each family member as they return home.
10. Being predictably happy.
11. Preparing special meals to make for special time with spouse and/or children.
12. Grow daily in the areas of the Lord, marriage, family, and homemaking.

For the past three lessons we’ve focused on building our home and watching over our home and working on our home.

We’ve concentrated on learning what this means and how to do it. And we’ve been challenged to do it better and do it faster.

All summed up, these lessons thread into our tapestry the knowledge of God’s truth, a right attitude in our heart, and the skills in motion to make up the beginnings of a beautiful tapestry called “Home”.

In lesson 13 we talked about creating an atmosphere of refuge, warm hearts, and positive reinforcement. Tell me of your efforts.

What has worked well and what has not worked so well?

In lesson 14 we talked about eliminating idleness. Tell me of some things that you have eliminated from your life these past few weeks to work towards this goal.

Have you uncovered some hidden idleness or time robbers that you may not have realized existed in your daily schedules?

In lesson 15 we talked about time management. Tell me of some things you have done to improve your time management.

Tell me some things you attempted that didn’t work too well for you.

This lesson has dealt with the call to action in building our homes. What do you see will be your greatest challenge? What ideas to you have to overcome this challenge?

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