Moms’ Group – Session #5

24 Sep Moms’ Group – Session #5

Ask the moms to write down why their work in the home is important. Take up the answers.

Watch the video HomeMaker’s Project.

Further develop this with a talk on the following:

We’ve spoken about order of things and time. Our housework takes up the most time in the day and never seems to end. It is not the most important priority though. Our husband and children are, but it’s good to review the value of all the work we do in the home.

Our tasks contribute to the material and spiritual well-being of all the members of the family by contributing to their sense of dignity, belonging, feeling loved and cared for.

Our work is not merely a mechanical task, but a deeply human activity. It involves our heart, our head, and our will. It involves all our capacities, and its greatest strength is that it is exercised out of love for those that we love most.

No one can replace what we do, because we do it out of love, with many little details of affection made tangible. Our feminine nature equips us to be more sensitive, more personal, to nurture, to be aware of many little things, to be intimate. This is a great strength of motherhood. Women have a great capacity for self-giving.

Our work is an essential part of family life – it contributes to the family atmosphere and tone of the home. The way you experience life in your home is determined by how you do your housekeeping and put your home together. Our work creates cleanliness, order, regularity, beauty, the conditions for health and safety, and a good place to do and feel all the things you wish and need to do and feel in your home. It is your work that makes your home alive. You don’t have to have a lot of money to make a home. A home is where the heart grows. We teach our children that we don’t need a lot, but we have what we need and take good care of it. Use your eye for detail to co-ordinate, uplift, re-arrange and order things to make your home a welcome place. The family shows its uniqueness in the pictures of family and relatives, the way we put our rooms together, the family history, interests, cultural background. Realize we are not a convent, a bank, a retiree’s home, a hotel or dumping ground. We are a haven for our husband and children. We take care of intimate places where we play, work, talk, share, sleep and build family. We aim to create a good atmosphere that supports wholeness and well-being.

Our love is operative, not theoretical. The way we present our food, arrange our furniture, decorations etc., our order and our cleanliness, all reflect our personality, character and values. Our approach should underline the dignity of the human being and concretize our love for them. We want our home to be a place of rest, love, security, learning, peace, trust and belonging. Certainly a nice atmosphere provides high self-esteem. You believe you are someone important, wanted, loved and needed. If it doesn’t exist, you go somewhere else.

By the work we do, we provide for basic human needs, shelter, food, clothing and so much more. The heart of the home is you and how you take care of the things and people in it. Realize your work makes a tremendous difference.

You bring joy, life, caring attitude, self-giving, and concern to those in your home by your efforts to run the household. Expressed in a thousand details – tablecloth for special days, favorite meals when someone feels down, big hug when someone comes home, notes in lunch bags, clean clothes to wear, things organized so people can find them, all speak volumes. Love is the principle foundation of the atmosphere in the home – shown in affection, interest, concern, gratitude, deeds freely given, without expecting anything in return, where intimacy is greatly respected. By your efforts, you build traditions. You teach things in a very pleasant way. Family is not military life.

Because our families are most valuable, we need to make our house a home. We need time and resources to transform, maintain and enhance our nest. Avoid thinking that time spent on our homes is wasted time, or that our goal should always be to reduce the time and effort we spend on them.

Consider it professional work to take care of all your duties in the home. There are many professionals who get paid to do the same for hotels, motels, hospitals and various institutions. For us moms, our home care is a labor of love because we care deeply about those who abide there. We don’t do it for pay. We do it for love. Our work is constant, demanding, and oftentimes difficult. It uses all our capacities and stretches us to new levels of growth in virtue. It can be tiring and can often go without compliment, reward and acknowledgment.

Be careful and don’t complain. It turns your husband and children off. Complaining brings down the tone of the family. Always speak positively. Focus on what is going well. Speak with good humor, culture. You set the tone. You give the outlook on what you are doing. How your kids view their future and present family life and the home will greatly depend on your attitude. Keep your batteries charged (sleep, eat right, exercise, talk to other women).

Be professional in the care of your home, like a manager. See where strengths and weaknesses are. Look for solutions that you could implement. Be resourceful in overcoming problems and limitations, proactive rather than reactive.

Today’s family needs a heart desperately. You are it. You are the most valuable player in the home because of the nature God has given you – your intuition, attention to detail, sensitivity, nurturing role, ability to understand. Know you have what it takes. Allow the family to develop these qualities in you. Above all rest in God. He’s the one who really makes things happen.