A Daughter’s Heart for the Home
2008 at 2:52 pm | by Carolyn Mahaney
As we talk about training future homemakers, I must clarify that this isn’t all we are training our daughters to do. There are many vital aspects of our daughters’ education and character development that are important for their future. But we’re focusing exclusively on homemaking this week for two reasons: 1. It should be a priority in every daughter’s training (because it is a biblical priority) and 2. Sadly, it is an oft-neglected priority in the church today. Oh, and I almost forgot a third reason we picked this topic to discuss—because so many of you humble moms asked us to!
These thoughts from Tedd and Margy Tripp put the importance of our homemaking training in perspective:
“Life is a classroom. It truly is. Teaching and learning are in process twenty-four hours a day. Here's the danger! In the absence of biblical formative instruction, secular formative instructors take over. Our hearts are easily captivated by the hollow and deceptive philosophies of a godless culture (Col.2:8). The majority culture interprets life through unregenerate eyes and promotes its conclusions through various means, from advertising to education. It is like the air you breathe; you breathe it in without noticing it! So do our children! The formative instruction of our secular culture is a frightening reality. How can parents compete with the world for the minds and hearts of their children?” (Instructing a Child's Heart)
What an urgent question! How can we as mothers compete for the minds and hearts of our daughters with a world that shows (as one author put it) “a disdain of domesticity and a contempt for housewives”?
The answer: We must pay close attention to what captures our daughter’s heart. For, as it says in Proverbs 4:23, “from [the heart] flow the springs of life.”
We must ask “What is my daughter most excited about? What captures her imagination? What are her desires and dreams for her future? Is she more eager to be with friends than to be with family? Would she rather pursue activities outside of the home rather than endeavors in the home? Who does she admire more—faithful homemakers or worldly women?”
As moms it is our job to carefully monitor our daughters’ hearts. If we sense their enthusiasm for family and home waning, we must skillfully reorient their affections back toward family and home.
There were certain seasons I observed this happening with each of my daughters during the teen years. So we talked about it. In fact we had many conversations about this topic. Long conversations.
I asked my daughters questions (like those listed above) about their hearts. Then we looked at what Scripture had to say about the importance of the home. (Books and resources were very helpful here.). Then there were more loving yet probing questions about what they learned from Scripture and how it applied to their own hearts.
Over time, with much talking, I saw each of my daughter’s heart for the home and desire to be with our family grow and flourish. But it took more than just talking. Tomorrow we’ll consider some practical steps to train our daughters to be homemakers.
