I was just being...just thinking...just wondering what to do next when I ventured upstairs to our room.
The children were content and I found myself available. One thing led to another and before I knew it I was organizing our closet, weeding through a drawer, crawling under our bed, and tidying deserted corners of our bedroom. As I folded, hung, scoured, and rearranged I began to feel more "on top of it" and I asked myself, Why?
I've shared before about
Quantity Time, my conviction that in order to draw near to God, to really
know Him and
be known by Him, we need to spend time with Him...lots of it. Likewise, if we want to disciple our children in an abiding fellowship style of discipleship, we need to spend Quantity Time with our family members as well.
These principles of priorities spearhead the vision God has cast for our family in this season of parenting. We believe that our Quantity Time with God as individuals is the very catalyst which fuels our desire to spend Quantity Time with our children. He fills us with His love for them and we overflow with what He has to offer...that which we cannot produce on our own...good fruit.
"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control."
Galatians 5:22-23
“For no good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit, for each tree is known by its own fruit.
For figs are not gathered from thornbushes, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush.
The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks."
Luke 6:43-45
Quantity Time At Home.
This new concept struck my mind as I organized our bedroom one random normal day at home this week while communing quietly with the Lord. It's in the quiet stillness of Quantity Time before Him that I hear His gentle whispers. (How can we hear Him when we're bustling about, going and doing, doing and going?) This was definitely one of those "nothing turned something" moments and an old habit became a new catch phrase for me to label what I've been doing all along.
Quantity Time At Home.
Home is where the heart is...That's the way we say it. When our hearts are invested at home, especially as moms who have been encouraged in God's Word to be fruitful and diligent at home, we literally have the foundational ingredient to managing our homes well...time. How can we be productive at home, both spiritually and physically, if we are not literally at home?
Titus 2 encourages women
"to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure,
working at home,
kind, and submissive to their own husbands,
that the word of God may not be reviled."
Titus 2:4-5
Proverbs 31 encourages women likewise:
An excellent wife who can find?
She is far more precious than jewels.
The heart of her husband trusts in her,
and he will have no lack of gain.
She does him good, and not harm,
all the days of her life.
She seeks wool and flax,
and works with willing hands.
She is like the ships of the merchant;
she brings her food from afar.
She rises while it is yet night
and provides food for her household
and portions for her maidens.
She considers a field and buys it;
with the fruit of her hands she plants a vineyard.
She dresses herself with strength
and makes her arms strong.
She perceives that her merchandise is profitable.
Her lamp does not go out at night.
She puts her hands to the distaff,
and her hands hold the spindle.
She opens her hand to the poor
and reaches out her hands to the needy.
She is not afraid of snow for her household,
for all her household are clothed in scarlet.
She makes bed coverings for herself;
her clothing is fine linen and purple.
Her husband is known in the gates
when he sits among the elders of the land.
She makes linen garments and sells them;
she delivers sashes to the merchant.
Strength and dignity are her clothing,
and she laughs at the time to come.
She opens her mouth with wisdom,
and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue.
She looks well to the ways of her household
and does not eat the bread of idleness.
Her children rise up and call her blessed;
her husband also, and he praises her:
“Many women have done excellently,
but you surpass them all.”
Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain,
but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.
Give her of the fruit of her hands,
and let her works praise her in the gates.
Proverbs 31:10-31
The Proverbs 31 woman certainly gives us much to aspire to.
I notice how much of this passage (which I chose to italicize) has encouragements for women to be productive at home.
The obvious question must be answered, "How can we be fruitfully productive at home if we are not at home?"
In my organizational light bulb moment, it dawned on me that the reason I was able to "get on top of it" in a way that I was needing to had much to do with the physical Quantity Time I had at home. Within the context of Quantity Time At Home, many things take place, primarily heart training/fruit of the Spirit training for our children as well as us (the parents) from our Father God as we strive to live peaceably with one another. The fruit of the Spirit are of eternal value and worth. We carry these treasures into eternity. But there is also worth and value in the other things we spend our time doing within our homes as well.
Even duties like
laundry, dishes, organizing behind cabinet and closet doors, scrubbing, vacuuming, and dusting can bear eternal fruit when they're done with the right heart, when we feel "on top of it" enough to stop work and enjoy play, and when we serve our families as if we are "doing the will of God from the heart, rendering service with a good will
as to the Lord and not to man." (Ephesians 6:6-7)
Both Titus 2 and Proverbs 31 encourage us women to tend well to our households and I'm convinced that this requires Quantity Time At Home. As I strive for peace in my home, I'm repeatedly encouraged to remember that God is not a God of disorder but of peace (1 Corinthians 14:33). He is not chaotic and likewise nor should we be as we seek to be more like Him.
Of course we will never be perfect and we're not supposed to be, but I know for me as a mom, I feel more relaxed and prepared for the HUGE responsibilities of caring for my loved ones' hearts (the part that really matters!) when I'm "on top of it" at home.
It's a constant daily grind and it always will be to maintain our home well because people live here...but I do think that with more time at home {Quantity Time At Home} the tasks become more manageable.
So, here's to setting about the tasks of home with strength and dignity like Proverbs 31. Here's to loving our husbands and children in a Titus 2 sort of way. Here's to trusting Jesus to carry us throughout the tasks of our days, that He might grant us rest when we labor and find ourselves heavy laden, knowing He calls us to come to Him and learn from Him as we spend diligent,
God-honoring Quantity Time At Home.
"Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
Matthew 11:28-30
"But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you."
Matthew 6:33
"She looks well to the ways of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness.
Her children rise up and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her: 'Many women have done excellently, but you surpass them all.' Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.
Give her of the fruit of her hands, and let her works praise her in the gates."
Proverbs 31:27-31
