Delighted Motherhood
Daily Rhythms for a Fruitful Home
Your objective as a rhythm maker is to fight against the “patterns of this world” and consider how to use the regular cycles of your day/week to advance the values that are most precious to you. How can a woman intentionally direct lifegiving rhythms in her home? Recognize that homemaking (and ordering your time) is a uniquely high calling. (Genesis 2, 1 Peter 3, Titus 2) Homemakers are tasked with tending to a dwelling that is intended to be a reflection of heaven.That is a HIGH calling! As women, we are especially commissioned on earth with being keepers at home. As you cultivate a beautiful and sacred home you are cultivating a place that will hopefully reflect our heavenly home and draw others to long for our Heavenly Father. Plan in the short term and the long term Consider long term goals/ priorities and then consider what daily rhythms would help move forward those aims. In order to form godly habits we have to have “imaginations that have absorbed a vision for how things ought to be.” Where would those routines most naturally flow in the daily rhythm of my day? Consider goals that are geared towards faithfulness not accomplishment. Remember nothing you do is invisible to God! He saw you faithfully clean the bathroom and waste a naptime scrolling. Edith Schaeffer once stated, “Time cannot be used over again. Time cannot be taken to the cleaners and brought back as good as new, to be used another way. The use of time is a very permanent thing… Time moves from the present tense into the past tense very relentlessly. Childhood cannot be used over again for another set of preparations nor a different set of memories.” “Look carefully at how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.” (Ephesians 5:15) Invite your husband into the planning process. Although I might say I am complimentarian in theory, sometimes I don’t act like it. God designed motherhood to occur in a marriage. Although sadly that isn’t a reality for some, many of us are married. Men were created by God to lovingly lead. Do we give our husbands chances to do that? Or do we assume we understand the situation better? Utilize tools that provide structure, accountability, and flexibility. A variety of tools can help us practice godly rhythms. We ought to remember that the natural bent of this world is towards disorder, we will be prone to sin, and the life of a mom changes day to day. Thus when considering tools look for systems that will provide you structure, accountability, and flexibility. Structure: Proverbs 24:27 encourages us, “Prepare your work outside; get everything ready for yourself in the field, and after that build your house.” We don’t live haphazardly. Get your plans and your materials sorted and then go about the work of pattern forming. D.A. Carson stated, “we don’t drift towards holiness.” Accountability: Proverbs 17:17 “A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity. Proverbs 27:6 “Faithful are the wounds of a friend; profuse are the kisses of an enemy.” Proverbs 27:17 “Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another.” Proverbs 27:10 "Do not forsake your friend and your father's friend, and do not go to your brother's house on the day of your calamity. Better is a neighbor who is near than a brother who is far away". Pray for true friends who can share in your life rhythms and provide faithful accountability. Flexibility: James 4:13-15a “Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit” –yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “if the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” Doesn’t every mom with a spoiled afternoon nap know this to be true!! Be flexible, hold your plans before the Lord, and trust that he will order your steps. Our Heavenly Father is making us new creations through the power of Jesus. We aren’t saved through our daily patterns anymore than my sweet four year old becomes my son through his obedience. In the same way, let us be careful to remember that salvation is through faith in Christ alone. We are secure as his beloved, delighted in children. However, like a loving father trains his son to obey for his good, so our Heavenly Father is training in holiness for our good. May our daily patterns, routines, and rhythms bring us closer to our gracious and loving Father.
