I am the Keeper

Sometimes a book sits on a shelf

though it should be thrown away.

Sometimes a movie

or a phrase

or an attitude

lingers in our home a little too long.

Or, rather,

sometimes a wall remains blank

though it should be beautified.

Sometimes a gift remains ungiven

a smile, unsmiled

a lesson, untaught,

a song, unsung in our house too long.

These are the details I notice.

These are the “to do’s” on my post-it notes.

This is my career. My lifestyle. My goal.

This is why I pour my life into our home:

to notice the little things –

and the big things –

that come in,

and go out.

Like a bouncer, editer, manager, auditor, sanctifier, teacher, artist, cook, composer…

I box up the trash.

I send out what is meaningless, useless, wasteful.

I refuse entry to the thieves, the noise, the junk,

And say, “no” to things that might waste our vapor.

Ah, but I also keep the treasures.

I look for flashes of true beauty and tug, pull, stretch it out – to share it.

I gather the good – no, the best – and set it on our shelves, dinner plates, and ear drums.

I pray about everything I see, sense, and discern within our tiny family.

Every ounce of muscle, insight, and passion is required to be the Keeper of my Home.

No one else has been – or will be – asked to do this job within these precious walls.

It is on my shoulders, in my eyes, within my spirit.

And I gladly do it.

For God himself is happy then. And we are happy in Him.

– Thoughts by Laura

***

No wonder Paul wrote that women are “to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed.” Titus 2. I think this is revolutionary.

***

Check out a related post: A Wise Woman Builds Her Home.