‍Each season of life, each day has its own troubles and struggles. It can seem easier to just throw up our hands and accept the stress and franticness of our day and age, especially in seasons of high need – teenagers with jobs who can’t drive yet, summertime activities, community commitments, health crises, caretaking, etc. It is difficult to believe that a slow start and slow finish are worthy of protecting when the to-do list is so long. But if you can live this way, even a little bit, it can calm your nerves. No matter what you face throughout the day, you will have some gentleness to enjoy, to strengthen your heart and mind and body. Isn’t it a funny thing that gentleness is what strengthens women? It seems a bit counterintuitive, but most women find courage, strength, and endurance in gentleness.

All of us desire to make homes. We love all that home holds. We glory in all that home brings into the lives of the people we love. We are all in on the value of our labors. Practicing daily thanksgiving helps us keep our light in our windows to guide our people back home. When we fill heart-gardens with the fertilizer of gratitude, the seeds we plant bloom into big, bold, beautiful warmth. It is impossible to stand against a grateful woman. She will nourish and nurture in life-altering ways. Without a word, we will create an environment that everyone wants to be in. No matter what is on our walls, our homes will be infused with coziness, comfort, and cheer. 

What is all this but Merry Durability and Cheering Strength? Isn’t that being sturdy? Isn’t that doing hard things with a smile on our face? Isn’t that being the round, worn, safe place for our people? Being a woman, wife, mother, homemaker requires more grit than our aprons, ruffles, and nurturing of little things imply. This grit takes time to grow, but I want to grow it. I want to be sturdy so I can be a helper. I know that I’m dependent on my husband, family, friends, and church, but I want to be as sturdy in that dependence as I possibly can, so that when war comes, my man can answer the call. But also, so that when plants die, drought comes, chickens get sick, a friend needs a meal, or my own health declines, I can carry on happily. I want this for me, and I want it for all of you in your homes.

We don’t deny that the world is full of risk, darkness, and death just waiting to rend apart our homes and our people. We don’t deny that at all. It’s true. What we deny is its power to intimidate us into panic or apathy. We look it squarely in the eye, our candle gleaming brightly in our hands, and we endure.

Our homes enjoy couches, lighting, house plants, and good food, but they need a center of merry durability. We HearthKeepers provided that. That is our vast work.