New Matrons are going to be tempted by discouragement because everything feels so unfamiliar and overwhelming while Mature Matrons will be tempted to boredom and stagnation because everything has become too routine and comfortable. We can help each other out of these troubles if we work together and engage each other in the grand work of homemaking. This

Productivity is better measured by the love of our traditions not the number of them. It is measured by the delight and wonder of our people not the number of parties we rush to. It’s measured by the joy and enjoyment of food, not by how much food. It is measured by our hearts not our stuff.

Complaining will rot our souls, ruin our homes, and destroy our relationships with our husbands, our children, and our churches.

When you get to know people, you start to learn about needs. This is where you plug in and become part of the knitting circle yourself.

It will take a lot of thought and prudence to decide whether to accept or reject promotions, to set boundaries, and to communicate with your boss. Keep in mind that your goal is to be home and make room for your husband to provide and for you to produce.

God decorates every space in the world with beauty, from atoms to mountains, from wildflowers to sunsets. Every minute and major element of creation is festooned with beauty. How can we look at what our Father did and then look at our homes and throw up our hands or worse deride those who love decorating? The Father loves decorating, and so should we.

Healing begins in the home and rests in the hands of the homemaker.

Being here, being present, engaged in our homes and our churches is life-giving, life-keeping, hopeful, rebellious, screaming against the night, living by faith not by sight. Being home is true courage.

If we ever need something to elevate what we do, to show us how important what we do is, we should think of ourselves as the gatekeepers.

Routine is loyalty and faithfulness made sight, given firm, given tangible expression, and action.

What I’m driving at is to remind you that your ‘paid’ job is one where you can be replaced, while your home, your ‘unpaid’ job, is the one where you are indispensable. It should always have priority. And for you ladies who are solely homemakers, you are not missing out, you are doing the indispensable work!

We, homemakers, are the hearts of our home, and we do spend a fair amount of our time at the kitchen sink and in the kitchen. Make it a place you like to be

Caring for the elderly has long been the realm of women, just as caring for children is. We have the abilities needed to do this. For a generation, our elderly have been handed off, but I think we may see many needs here open up moving into the next generations.

You have poured all this labor into this glorious food. Enjoy it! Let the tastes and textures thrill you. Rehearse those well-trod paths of old stories and memories. Get loud. Sit for five minutes. Observe your happy, content people and be thrilled, oh tenders, at the feast, all the feast. From start to end, planning, cooking, consuming. Enjoy the feast!

Ladies, attitude is everything as homemakers. We can make poverty an adventure, water into broth, cold nights cozy, husbands into courageous warriors, and children into men and women. We do this. Us. The homemakers. But we can’t do this if we’re not thankful.

Our culture is in love with the idea of the “found” family. Do you know why that is? We told homemakers their job was worthless and they should go do something more important. Women did that and now we have the loneliest and most lost generation of people.

I want everyone to get as much out of this group as possible. I want every woman here to be engaged with tending to her people be they husband, children, family, extended family, church family, or friends.

With my fists slowly opening, I find myself saying yes! Use it! So what if it breaks, or wears out? Better that than not enjoying it at all!

This too is part of delighting in our homes with a heart of merry durability.

I get to be here for the long haul, not just the weekend. I get to pour myself out without frantic adrenaline, dog-eat-dog, stay relevant, exhausting passion. I get to pour slowly, learn, test, and take my time as an eternal being, not a one-shot life.

Cultivating a simple and quiet life has taken a lot of mental and emotional work. Some of it has been by choice and some of it is due to God’s providence. But the delight of calm living has enthralled me. The simple life lends itself to observation and thought. It allows you to open your eyes and heart to little things.