I’ve been reading J.R. Miller’s book The Family (formerly Home-making) and have been drinking in its beauty and wisdom. I highly recommend this book to every Christian who desires to bring honor to the Lord in their entire lives and learn how to better serve their families. This following quote is from the chapter, “The Parents’ Part.”

“But the true idea of a home is that it is a place for growth.  It is a place for the parents themselves to grow - to grow into beauty of character, to grow in refinement, in knowledge, in strength, in wisdom, in patience, gentleness, kindliness, and all the Christian graces and virtues. It is a place for children to grow - to  grow into physical vigor and health and to be trained in all that shall make them true and noble men and women.

“. . . A true home set up and all its life ordered for the definite purpose of preparing and sending out human lives fashioned into symmetry, filled with lofty impulses and aspirations, governed by principles of rectitude and honor and fitted to enter upon the duties and struggles of life with wisdom and strength.”

- J.R. Miller, The Family

“Some day you will be old enough to start reading fairy tales again.” - C.S. Lewis

“Una and the Lion” from the Faeire Queene, by Briton Rivière, 1880

“Fairy tales are more than true: not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten.” - G.K. Chesterton

“Evening Prayers” by Eugene Ernest Hillemacher

“. . . For every wife the first duty is the making and keeping of her home. Her first and best work should be done there, and till it is well done she has no right to go outside to take up other duties. She is to be a ‘worker at home.’ She must look upon her home as the one spot on earth for which she alone is responsible, and which she must cultivate well for God if she never does anything outside.

“. . . There have been wives who in their zeal for Christ’s work outside have neglected Christ’s work inside their own doors. . . . While they were winning a place in the hearts of the poor or the sick or the orphan, they were losing their rightful place in the hearts of their own household.

“Let it be remembered that Christ’s work in the home is the first that He gives to every wife, and that no amount of consecrated activities in other spheres will atone in this world or the next for the neglect or failure there.”

- from The Wife’s Part in The Family by J.R. Miller

“Is it heartless to be unconcerned about needs far away? We must not be unconcerned, but we must remember that we cannot fight every battle.”

- from Fathers, Daughters and “Mission Work” in So Much More by Anna Sophia and Elizabeth Botkin

“It is in her own home that this warmth of heart and this openness of hand are first to be shown. It is as a wife and mother that her gentleness performs its most sacred ministry.”

- from The Wife’s Part in The Family by J.R. Miller

(All emphasis mine)

“An Interior with a Woman Reading” by Carl Larsson

“Then there’s the joy of getting your desk clean, and knowing that all your letters are answered, and you can see the wood on it again.” - Lady Bird Johnson

In John 1:35-37, John the Baptist has just watched Jesus walk past him. John says to two of his disciples, “Behold the Lamb of God!” the One whom John has been preaching about throughout his whole ministry.

This moment is what John the Baptist has been preparing his disciples for. Andrew and, mostly likely, John (who never identifies himself in the book of John), recognize Jesus as the Messiah and, leaving John the Baptist, follow the Son of God.

“Jesus turned and saw them following and said to them, ‘What are you seeking?’ And they said to Him, ‘Rabbi, . . . where are you staying?’” -John 1:38 (ESV)

Notice that Jesus doesn’t audibly assume they are following Him by asking Whom are you seeking, but what are you seeking. In this morning’s sermon, Pastor Jeff said, “All men, by nature, are seekers. Jesus reveals this in His question.” Men (and women) seek all kinds of things - status, image, money, entertainment, power, etc.

But Andrew and John answer with another question that reveals that they not only are seeking Jesus, but want to pursue a relationship with the Son of God. “Teacher, where do you live?” implies that the one who seeks to learn wants to be near the teacher, around him as often as he can be, to spend time with Him.

In verse 39, we find that it is about 10:00 in the morning, and Andrew and John spend the whole day with Jesus.

Do I seek to spend my whole days with Jesus, or just the mornings? How about you - Is your relationship with Jesus at the top of your list?

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Illustration by E.H Shepard

“Because children have abounding vitality, because they are in spirit fierce and free, therefore they want things repeated and unchanged. They always say, ‘Do it again’; and the grown-up person does it again until he is nearly dead. For grown-up people are not strong enough to exult in monotony. But perhaps God is strong enough to exult in monotony. It is possible that God says every morning, ‘do it again’ to the sun; and every evening, ‘Do it again’ to the moon. It may not be automatic necessity that makes all daisies alike; it may be that God makes every daisy separately, but has never got tired of making them. It may be that He has the eternal appetite of infancy; for we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we.”

- G.K. Chesterton, in Orthodoxy

Abigail Adams was always supportive of her country’s cause, but after witnessing the Battle of Bunker Hill near her home and hearing about the resulting death of a family friend, her patriotic spirit was even further aroused. Momma found this beautiful story in a biography:

Image from TV Guide

“One day Johnny (John Quincy) came into the house to find his mother and his uncle Elihu. . . in the kitchen, putting all his mother’s treasured pewter spoons into a large kettle. As Johnny watched his mother calmly directing the activity in her quiet voice, he slowly began to understand that they were melting down her precious pewter to make bullets. As his eyes met hers across the room, he felt a surge of love and pride.

“‘Do you wonder,’ said John Quincy Adams sixty-eight years later, “that a boy of seven who witnessed this scene should be a patriot?’”

- From Abigail Adams, by Natalie S. Bober

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Mrs. Fuentes wrote an excellent post on home culture, and it made me reflect on what I remember as a little girl, and how the home culture that my mother made affected me. I particularly thought about our backyards, and how much they were a part of our lives and homes.

My memories are practically lined with the foliage from the backyards, fields and woods I played in. Anything living and green in or near our homes has had a small, special nook in my heart, where I’ve kept fond memories of inspiration and delight collected over the years.

A vegetable or flower garden has also been a source of delight: there is so much beauty and wisdom to glean here.  And the eagerness to help Momma poke marigold seeds into starter trays, or pulling baby weeds from the freshly rained-on earth, had almost as much influence on my lifelong affections as the books I savored.

The sunlight on the trellis reminded me of something so simple: The trellis next to the garage, with its honeysuckle trickling upward, is a full leafy vine, and plain most of the year. But just after summer comes, all the little yellow and white ladies’ gloves shower down. At night when I walk the dog in the moonlight, a soft breeze will waft by with a sweet and gentle aroma from the tiny flowers. Our backyard really is that beautiful, and as much a part of our homes as the cozy rooms inside.

“There is nothing in all the influences and surroundings of the home of tender childhood so small that it does not leave its touch of beauty or of marring upon the life. . . . Wherever a child grows up it carries in its character the subtle impressions of the home in which it lives.” - J.R. Miller, in Home Making

Hooray! The 100th post!

Here’s a good quote I have found to be extremely helpful. For someone who doesn’t care for strict schedules, I appreciate the reinforced necessity and simplicity of just writing down that to-do list:

“Spending fifteen minutes thinking about what you are going to do before you start will save four hours of wasted time later on. Any individual who has thought through her workday, set priorities, and organized the days’ tasks is likely to accomplish far more than someone who randomly moves through the day” - James W. Botkin, The 15:4 Rule

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“How can anyone dare to suggest or say that working at the huge task of making a home and carrying on through the years and years of ups and downs is not one of the very few truly worthwhile ways to spend our energies and gifts in human life?” - Susan Schaeffer Macaulay, For the Family’s Sake

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