There's no better place than home.

What image does “home” conjure up in your mind? Most times, it will be a sweet memory, for home is such a strong part of our lives that it etches itself in our heart in an indelible ink that creates a deep longing. Irregardless of whether home was troubled or not, there is always a part of us that finds it is a refuge. It is that place where we can just be ourselves and let our hair down as we unwind. Here we not only rest and recoup from the rages and trials of the world, but it is in and of itself, a place of solace.

Many a woman can testify to the way home ministers its comfort to her when she comes home after a day’s shopping or visiting. Or for the working woman, when she comes home from a day’s work. It is not unusual for a woman to come home during her lunch break, taking most of her break up in traveling, yet ministered to so deeply by the comfort of being home that she just spends 10 minutes there before returning to work.

There is no sweeter place than home when one is in hospital- the hours pass miserably until those magic words are uttered- “You can go home today!” Even at the end of a holiday, one is usually more than happy to be going home again- great as the holiday has been, there indeed is no place on earth like your own home!

Such is the familiarity of home and its deep comfort to us that often a small child will be distraught when starting kindergarten or school. The separation from home and mother is often traumatic. How good it is that more and more women are home-schooling their children! My husband tells me that there is absolutely nothing quite like coming home after the dog eat dog attitude of the world, and relaxing at home! I do believe home ministers to us in a deep way that no other form of shelter can do!

Home is definitely more than a roof and walls. You will find that in a motel. No, home is a place where familiarity, traditions, routines, personal touches, journeying through life under its shelter and some degree of privacy from outside influences, all plays its part in making home the sweetest place on earth.

Sadly, the world’s trend is to minimise the comfort of home, where within its sheltering walls life’s lessons are taught and relationships are built and strengthened. Home is the cradle of civilisation and its diminished role would prove catastrophic to mankind. Where else does one go for solace, comfort and nurture? What else keeps a soldier from going insane on the battlefield and stops him or her losing all hope- the hope of going home!

We Christian women must therefore do all in our power to promote home as the God ordained institution that He intended. There must be a return to home birthing if possible, home schooling, using the home as a ministry by providing a place for believers to meet, hospitality for all, and looking after elderly parents, whilst remembering that home is the soil where Godly seed is planted and where His ways are taught and practised.

Here is where family ties will be strengthened, babies brought up as soldiers of the LORD, and where at least here His Name is spoken of with love and reverence. It is here in the home, that hearts will be moulded for eternity- for both those who live there and those who pass through its doors. Home should be a miniature oasis of order, cleanliness, holiness and peace and purity in a world that is sadly lacking most of these qualities.

When God is the foundation of the home as He intended to be, it will be of no importance how grand or plain your home is. The very inbuilt human need for the ministry of the home will carry us through no matter what its condition. As Christian women and keepers of the home, we will be wise in implementing routines for cleaning and maintaining our home both spiritually and physically. We must guard our home zealously from outside unsavoury influences. Peace and holiness should be highly sought after.

The homemaker is a servant who is ministering for the LORD as much as any preacher or evangelist- the future of her family and therefore, society does indeed rest in her hands and the results will be eternal. As women are becoming disenchanted with the world's lies for finding fulfilment in a career- and as they start to feel cheated out of the pleasures of motherhood then I believe that in the near future, there will be an uprising of women who catch the vision of homemaker as a servant of not only her family, but the Most High God. My prayer is that it will come sooner rather than later. For our own sake, our family’s sake and ultimately the world’s.

© Glenys Robyn Hicks

He blesses the habitation of the just. Proverbs 3:33b