HouseTeatering

Some time ago, I received read this letter:

Dear Friend,

This perfectly delightful note is being sent on paper I made myself to tell you what I have been up to. Since it snowed last night, I got up early and made a sled with old barn wood and a glue gun. I hand-painted it in gold-leaf, got out my loom, and made a blanket in peaches and mauves. Then, to make the sled complete, I made a white horse to pull it from DNA that I just had sitting around in my craft room.

By then, it was time to start making the placemats and napkins for my 20 breakfast guests. I’m serving the old standard Stewart 12-course breakfast, but I’ll let you in on a little secret: I didn’t have time to make the table and chairs this morning, so I used the ones I had on hand.

Before I moved the table into the living room, I decided to add just a touch of the holidays. So I repainted the room in pinks and stenciled gold stars on the ceiling. Then, while the homemade bread was rising, I took antique candle molds and made the dishes (exactly the same shade of pink) to use for breakfast. These were made from Hungarian clay, which you can get in almost any Hungarian craft store.

Well, I must run. I need to finish the buttonholes on the dress I’m wearing for breakfast. I’ll get out the sled and drive this note to the post office as soon as the glue dries on the envelope I’ll be making. Hope my breakfast guests don’t stay too long. I have 40,000 cranberries to string with bay leaves before my speaking engagement at noon.

It’s a good thing.

Love, Martha

While this borders on the ridiculous, many times, in our quest to be what we think is the virtuous woman, we strive to be a “Martha Stewart.”

It is easy for us to look at this Proverbs 31 woman and see her as the unattainable model of perfection. But when we look to Jesus, and take the time to get to know Him, He can make us into the women He has designed us to be, fashioned after His image! The Bible says that unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it.

Ladies, our focus is not primarily to have an organized home, to fix the best meals, or to make the best clothes. Those are good things to aspire to, but they are not the best things. We want to have the right heart in all we do—not merely perfect housekeeping but, more importantly, home-building, life-building efforts that last forever. A home that will last for all eternity.

In Proverbs 31:25, we read that the virtuous woman “shall rejoice in time to come” or, as another translation puts it, “She smiles at her future” (NASB). She can face the future with confidence because strength and honor are her clothing. This is a woman who knows her God, and He has become her strength and confidence.

She smiles at her future. She is looking forward to it! She is ready for it!
If you know your God, you can face anything! When we place our focus on the things that matter most, we will have not only a heavenly-mindedness, but we will also be of the greatest earthly good. She is building a home- a home that will last for eternity!

How do we build our homes so they will last for eternity?

Once again, I find myself in the middle of a construction project. My husband and I have just begun building a new home for our expanding family.

When people ask me if I am excited to build this home, I answer, “Sure!” And I am truly thankful for this blessing, but that is not where my heart of hearts is, for I know that this home is temporary.

I don’t want to be so busy building houses on the sand, washed away with the evening’s tide, that I miss out on heaven’s building opportunities.

Proverbs 14:1 says that a wise woman builds her home. And as any wise builder knows, your house will not stand the test of time unless you start with a firm foundation.

The day I watched the foundation of our old home being dumped into giant trucks and hauled away, I read the following verse in one of my devotionals the following verse: “For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 3:11). That physical foundation we had stood on and walked upon for so many years was gone in a matter of moments.

Before I received Jesus as my Lord and Savior at the age of 16, the foundation on which I stood was religion, good works, self-righteousness, and people pleasing. One by one, they were all stripped away and I realized that I could only be saved through Jesus. He was the only solid foundation on which I could stand! He washed me in His precious blood and clothed me in His righteousness!

The virtuous woman is ready for the future, not only because she is clothed in strength and honor. In Proverbs 31:21, we read that she is not afraid of snow for her household, because her household is clothed in scarlet. She is not afraid of the cold winter ahead, because she has spared no effort. She planned for the future, preparing them and protecting them from the hard days ahead, clothing her family in scarlet.

The Bible speaks of that scarlet thread of redemption from Genesis to Revelation. Jesus is the Lamb who was slain from the foundations of the earth (Revelation 13:8).

Is Jesus the foundation of your home? Are we laboring in prayer for the salvation of our loved ones, our family members? Nothing else matters!

On Christ the solid rock I stand. All other ground is sinking sand. All other ground is sinking sand!