I’m beyond blessed. I’m so blessed I can barely handle the weight of so much good in my life. Every single thing I feel anxious about is actually God dealing so unbelievably bountifully with me. Each frantic whisper of “I’m late, I’m late, I’m late,” each tinge of “I’ll never get this all done” is a moment to step back and look at the blessing. Blessings always come packaged with responsibilities—families, friends, churches, communities, marriages, homes, cars, food, clothing, education, citizenship, hobbies, health, creativity, imagination. Nothing is ever given to us without a responsibility attached to it. But we can’t lose sight of the blessing because of the weight of the work.

I think it is easy, especially in suburbia, to ignore the weather and the changing seasons. We have roofs over our heads and air conditioning to keep us comfortable. Our lawns and gardens are respectable and controlled. Some of us spent years working in cubicles or office buildings, unaffected by the seasons except for the occasional ice storm. As homemakers, we no longer live this way. We should take note. Why? Because seasons and weather are gifts that do us good every day—yes, even the heat.

When our only goal is how quickly we can get something done and how easily we can do it, we stop caring about that thing. What does it matter if it is broken, destroyed, or trashed? When we haven’t poured any labor into something, we don’t care about what happens to it. And when we don’t care about what happens to it, we stop investing in it. It is like that rental house. The person who lives there doesn’t care. They don’t mow the lawn. They don’t beautify the property. It is an eyesore to the whole neighborhood. Or think about the difference between how you feel about the cucumber you harvested from your own garden vs. the one bought from the store. You probably don’t feel a thing about the one you bought at the store, but the one you harvested? You took a picture of it, crowed about it, and relished sharing it with family and friends. It matters to you because you put the hard work into growing it. This is true about raising chickens, too. Every egg matters because of the work you poured into that egg.

God is good, and He cares about His creation. Freya’s death wasn’t unknown or outside of His control. She wasn’t unknown to Him. Not many people may realize that a chicken makes a sweet companion, but God knows. He set Freya in my path a little over a year ago, randomly, humanly speaking, chosen by the Tractor Supply guy, and gave me a whole year with her. A whole year. I don’t know why, but I found it a great comfort to know that the Lord created her, loved her, and was in charge of her beginning and end and that it mattered to Him, she mattered to Him. He knows when the sparrows fall.

As I got away from social media, I got more and more burnt out about social media. How am I getting more burnt out doing less? Is getting over the dopamine addiction to being noticed? I’m used to having my fingers in several different ‘pies’ that let me interact with the internet. I’ve grown used to likes, hearts, and such. Now that I’m not really on social media, I’m not getting that little rush that says someone liked what I had to say. I’ve pulled back to things that cost people: podcasts and blog articles. These aren’t short and quick for the listener/reader or for the writer/producer. They require time and thought.

The sweet truth is that when we put in the effort to educate ourselves about this calling and life-long, always-on vocation, when we practice day in and day out, when we cultivate good attitudes, and correct our thinking, homemaking becomes more restful, not less. The sweet truth is that when we are home (I mean actually home), our homes become more expansive. I’m less a slave shackled to my kitchen now than I ever was as an employee, manager, or owner in the past. How is my life “easier” (kinder, healing, gentler) when I’m on call 24/7 as opposed to 8-9 hours of work? Because homemaking isn’t a 9-5 job, so the mindset and the pace are completely different.

Play is vital to our hearts and minds and thus to our homemaking. Play is vital to the mental health of humans, so that makes it our responsibility. We must nurture and nourish an environment of play in our hearts and hearths. We must stop viewing everything as burdens, chores, and dull responsibilities. We are the HearthKeepers! Laugh, dance, sing, and play for the mutual well-being of your home, hearth, self, and people. Learn, dear ladies, to have fun!

It is not a waste of our lives to learn to be merrily durable in our homes. Merry Durability is our watchword and our foundation.

Instead of feeling like I’m also trapped in a cage, it’s given me a reason for my slow living. I need to go in and out today so that I can keep a close eye on the hens' location. I need to take this break so that they can run around a bit. I need to make sure I’m not gone all the time because these creatures depend on me. What I thought might be a hindrance has proven to be a liberty.

Decorating is such a wonder! Ponder on how delightful the customizable-ness of homemaking is! The diversity of tastes! You are not wrong in your excitement to decorate your new home. Go for it, dear ladies! Set up that nest, cozy that space, and create beauty. This is who we are and what we do.

This is our kingdom, ladies. We may share the cooking with our hubbies or even our children, but we should know and grasp the power of a treasured kitchen. From her we make tea to soothe anxiety, pour wine to calm and help conversations flow, and coffee to brighten. Here we clean away dirt and stains and grubbiness. Here we make memories and link people together. All this and more overflows from our kitchens. The kitchen is our biggest and brightest tool as domestic artists. It is our biggest help as the helpers. It is our most faithful co-laborer in our service to others.

There is a feminine chain of creating beauty no matter where we are or what our circumstances are. From prairies to communist countries, in poverty and sickness, all women have figured out how to get flowers, or ribbons, something beautiful. This is part of connecting maid, matron, and crone, our past mothers to our future mothers. We women create beauty.

Procrastination is when we put off good but hard or annoying or anxiety-laced things for easier things, often bringing harm to us and our homes. It is a lack of self-control, diligence, and courage.

Don’t make the mistake I did and think that the goal is to be bored. We desire to be productive, useful, and helpful. But being a homemaker, in our heart of hearts, is to love the “boring things” because they are so far from boring as to be almost indescribable.

Every success we experience is not guaranteed to stay a success. Every win fades. Holding on to our successes typically squeezes the life out of them and either brings stress into our homes or keeps us living unhappily in the past, stunted and dull.

When we invest in our gifts and use them to produce goods, we get a return. Money in an IRA is going to get you more of a return than money hidden in your mattress. Gifts used will yield a higher return than our gifts unacknowledged, untrained, and set aside. What does a return look like? Calmer homes, happy husbands, trained children, healthy churches, and stable communities.

The idea of being the Menders has become a drumbeat in my mind as I’ve grown as a homemaker and slowly adjusted to the weight of my responsibilities.

Every time a limitation arises, an opportunity for growth opens.

I adore anything and everything that romanticizes and elevates the ordinary. Anything that draws back the veil on the mundane and routine so that we can catch a fleeting glimpse of the magic working behind the scenes. For just a moment, we catch sight of the intangible

One of the tools we can apply to do our work is to sit down and decide what we would like the vibe, the fragrance, of our home to be. What is the ultimate production we wish to set our hearts and hands and minds to producing? What is the ultimate fruit we are seeking to produce? What is our endgame? What are we pointing and working towards