When Homemaking Bores You {Finding Joy from Within}
Be honest, sometimes homemaking isn’t always fun but sometimes we need to change our perspective a bit. These simple tips can really transform our hearts to find joy in our homemaking which in return will bring glory to God as you manage your home!
I don’t know what it is but lately, I could be classified somewhat as a homemaking failure. Perhaps it’s summer or we’ve just been having too much fun as the family running through the sprinklers.
If I’m being honest though, it’s because I’m emotionally allergic to cleaning.
I know, I know… I run a blog titled Creative Home Keeper, isn’t that ironic? Well as I’ve mentioned here, I’ve never claimed to be anywhere near a “perfect home keeper.”
Far from it.
Here’s the kicker though I may not enjoy the act of cleaning BUT I do love the results of having a clean space and of creating a haven in our home for my family to enjoy.
It’s like when I tell my son as he is complaining because he has to take a bath (what it is with kids and their revolt against self-hygiene?) that sometimes we have to do things we don’t want to do 🙂
How to Find Joy in Homemaking
There is nothing inherently exciting about basic homemaking tasks.
I’m not one of those natural Martha types. In fact, when it comes right down to it, I relate so much better to Mary in the story from Luke 10: 38-42.
Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his teaching. But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.” But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.”
I’ll find just about ANY excuse to NOT do some of the home keeping chores, and in my personal opinion having the opportunity to sit at Jesus’ feet and take in all of His teachings and wisdom sounds pretty appealing to me!
Here is the truth though: as the wife, mother and keeper of the home, a majority of the homemaking responsibilities fall on me. Yes, we share our load and my family works together to make our home run smoothly and to create a haven, but we each have certain roles and tasks to tend to.
We have two choices to make… we can become angry, bitter and resentful, not to mention bored out of our minds, when it comes to the cleaning, laundry, and cooking, or we can choose something better.
We can choose to accept the role we have been created for and find the joy from within.
It’s not easy, and most of the time it goes against just about everything inside of us, but a few simple attitude adjustments can help us find joy when it comes to viewing our home and homemaking as a ministry.
1. Spend Time in Prayer
I know, I know…. we get tired of being told to pray about everything. It’s the common go-to advice when we are being told something we may or may not want to hear.
However, prayer, more specifically our direct line of communication with God, is heart-transformative. He wants us to share our hearts with Him. He knows what we struggle with and He desires for us to turn towards Him.
When I prayed about my lack of motivation towards my homemaking responsibilities a few things happened.
First I was gently reminded what my roles were, my priorities and why I was created to be the keeper of the home. Second, the more time I spent in prayer, the more my heart changed towards caring for my home.
p.s. Need help remembering to pray deep prayers for your children? This prayer calendar will really help!
2. Understanding Your Purpose & What Matters Most
As I mentioned above, through praying about my lack of desire of my domestic duties, God revealed something important to me. I was reminded to take an honest look at the things I valued in my life and how I was spending my time and energy.
Was I truly focusing on the things that mattered?
In a word, NO.
In my prayer journal I began to list out my priorities, the things that mattered:
- Deepening my relationship with God
- Cultivating a strong and vibrant marriage
- Raising children who love the Lord and enjoying every moment of who they are today
- Creating a haven at home
- Focusing on my personal well-being by taking care of my mind and body
- Writing and running my blog
When I got really honest with myself about how my priorities were truly lined up in my everyday life, things were definitely out of whack. No wonder I was having such a hard time finding the motivation to care for my home!
Have you sat down recently to evaluate what matters most? To list out your top priorities?
It may surprise you that what you view as the most important things and how you spend your time are very different. If you need help or a little encouragement, I have a free mini-workbook to download.
3. Serving Your Family as a Blessing, Not as an Obligation
Serving… one of those s-words that’s not very popular in today’s society (the other would be submission in case you were wondering). 😉 In fact, many view it as offensive when we talk about “serving” our family.
“I’m not a maid! We should be working together!” Are common objections when it comes to the idea of serving others.
When you remove the Gospel from the equation, the idea of service is outdated BUT I don’t want to remove Christ’s teaching from my life.
Christ is the ultimate example of what true Biblical servanthood is. He came as our
He came as our Redeemer, to model love and to be an example of service to others.
John 13:14-17 says:
“Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet… Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.”
When we remove the notion that it’s our obligation and responsibility to serve our family we realize what a true privilege it is!
Does my husband serve me?
Yes, he does.
Am I modeling servanthood to my children teaching them the importance of work and serving others?
Yes! They are watching and learning so much and I do include them in the household chores so they are also gaining the skills necessary to care for their own home and family someday.
4. Focus on the Why & Who
Finally instead of thinking about completing the actual chore, which is boring in itself, turn your thoughts around to why you are cleaning and who you are serving. It’s a little trick of the mind but it works.
- Doing laundry? Think about the people in your family who are blessed to wear clean clothes every day.
- Mopping the floor (again)? Praise God for the fact you have active kids who love exploring and discovering, even if they do track in all of the mud.
- Making dinner? Pray over the hungry mouths you are about to feed, asking God to fill more than just their bellies.
- Scrubbing the toilets? Remember that this is just a season, sometime in the very near future, your potty-training 3-year-old won’t miss the mark (and will be able to help clean!)
I’ve actually found that my best praying for my people comes while I’m cleaning my house. It completely removes the focus from the actual task and (almost) makes me enjoy it!
We can choose to accept the role we have been created for and find the joy from within.
I actually like cleaning the house and laundry. It’s cooking that I have a poor attitude towards. I suppose having to cook around allergy requirements make it worse coz I’m limited by what I can and cannot use. What I need to work on – prayer!!! That God has provided enough food to cook and eat!
Cooking with allergy restrictions is so hard! I have had to recently go dairy and gluten free and my husband is allergic to nuts and eggs… so cooking has become quite the challenge for us too! But I love your attitude of praying and offer gratitude for the blessings God has provided 🙂 Thanks for sharing Serene!
Haha, same here! I don’t mind laundry at all for instance but I hate cooking because it requires so much time and planning (and I teach piano in some evenings so I don’t like cooking on days I work.)
One thing that has helped for me is listening to books as I clean.Sometimes inspiring books, sometimes just something fun. I actually look forward to having time to do something I normally don’t have much time for.
Great Idea!!! Thanks for Sharing ?
My kids are old enough to clean their own rooms and do their own washing (that is the idea anyway;)). But the rest of what I clean, I pray. In the sitting room I pray for the people who may enter the house, that it would be a haven for them, tv-room that what we watch would be pleasing to the Lord, in the bathroom I thank Him for the gift of having enough water in the house to take a bath or shower – there are so many people who still have to go outside to use the bathroom.
MLreo