Homemaker's Prayer

Last night I started reading this book.

 (lent to me by a friend who knew I would love it, and I do!)

I fell in love with it from the first paragraph (pictured below)! 

reflections on the value of home, 

timeless good advice for homemakers,

 prayers, stories and recipes

connected to the stories!

In the first chapter, (written in the '60's) she is contemplating the 

increasing breakdown of homes,  the foundation of strong nations!

Even more relevant now! 

Lord, help me to make home a haven of kindness and grace

For nothing else in all the world can take home-sweet-home’s place

Then fit me with Thy joy and strength, fill every task I do

With thankfulness and love, so above all, I honour You

Lord, help me guard the heart of home with fierce, yet tender care

Lest some ruinous habit leaves it in sad disrepair

Keep me aware of what may harm or wreck its shielding wing

For the heart of the home is like a living, breathing Thing

… And never let the barb of discontentment tear a hole

Into the fabric that ought to protect, cheer and console

Lord, when my home begins to feel like a fragile, chipped cup

Still, let no failure foster the temptation to give up

Lord, teach me with humility to tend with mother’s pride

To details that kindle a glow that reaches far and wide

So that, no matter how far from its happy hearth we roam

The flicker of love’s Candlelight instills a sense of home

…and always draws us gladly back to where we long to be

To nourish us with home-sweet-home’s familiarity

Where welcomes are never worn thin, where love attends life’s woes

In, pray what grants a glimpse of Home beyond time’s curtain-close

© Janet Martin

I love how the beginning of the second chapter

 is in sync with the season I am in;

slowly tucking Christmas away, bit by bit

Books like this kindle in me 

a sweet contentment for the domestic 'mundane'  bliss

For things like 

mending...

ironing...

folding laundry...

tidying clutter...

making cabbage rolls...

(enough to freeze some for convenient suppers-for-one))

Cabbage Rolls...

Psalm 51:10

Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.