T2L-a beginning

"I will that the younger women marry, bear children, guide the house, give none occasion to the adversary to speak reproachfully." 1 Timothy 5:14


Since I wrote that post about being a Titus 2 woman last week, I've received emails asking for help from younger women that want to learn to be better keepers at home. I had no idea there were so many. Although this blog is mainly my journal and place to put my scripture study notes, I will devote one day a week at alittleginger to this idea.


To be a successful keeper at home, we must not listen to worldly accusations that only stupid women stay home. Keeping a home is a calling, a consecration, and a career from which we never retire and are never released. If we look upon it as a task of eternal significance, we can see our job as God sees it, privilege, opportunity, destiny. Hardly narrow or stultifying, it is a veritable garden for the intellect, "a fount of ideas and truths, a university and a museum, a laboratory for the curious, a gallery of all that is human."


You may say that that is very interesting, but you just need help getting your house clean. It is more than just an interesting idea. When you get away from the propaganda that the work of the keeper is something to get through so she can get on to more important things, you will find it easy and even delightful to wash the clothes and organize the storage room. Because tasks take on eternal significance, they no longer are bothersome or mundane. Bringing order and fellowship to a home, we build a place where our families feel a little bit of heaven.


“Teach your daughters to prepare for life’s greatest career—that of homemaker, wife, and mother. Teach them to love home because you love home. Teach them the importance of being a full-time mother in the home. “My eternal companion has wisely counseled mothers: ‘Radiate a spirit of contentment and joy with homemaking. You teach by example your attitude toward homemaking. Your attitude will say to your daughters, ‘I am only a housewife.’ Or it will convey, "Homemaking is the highest, most noble profession to which a woman might aspire.’” President Ezra Taft Benson (1899–1994), “To the Young Women of the Church,”Ensign, Nov. 1986, 84–85.


This is the ticket! So now you want to know how to get started, right? Before I begin, I must offer a disclaimer. This will only work if you have a deep love for the people you will serve, your husband, your children, and the others that live under your roof. It will only work if you love God and wish to build His kingdom on earth in your own little corner. Shall we begin?


Habit 1: This week, set your alarm clock for 5 or 6 a.m. When it goes off, do not hit the snooze button. Roll out of bed and smile. Attitude is everything. Make your bed and head out the door for a short walk. Once back inside, drink a quart of water. Sit down with your scriptures and study the Sunday School lesson for next week. Spend a few minutes speaking with your Father in Heaven. Get yourself powdered and pretty (this is my joke for shower and stuff.) Now eat something nutritious for breakfast (for me this is a green smoothie and sprouted muesli) and wash the dishes. If you have little children at home, teach them how much fun it is to wash and put away dishes--dishwashers are the bane of fun in the kitchen. This is the focus habit for your first week. (of course you might want to pick up the stuff on the floor so nobody breaks their leg and do a couple loads of laundry so that you have something to wear)


God was not kidding, when He commanded us to "...retire ti they bed early, that ye may not be weary; arise early, that your bodies and your minds may be invigorated." Doctrine and Covenants 88:124. It makes all the difference in the world (or in your little corner of it. Sleep experts tell us the way to stop staying up late and sleeping away the day is to get up in the morning no matter how tired we may feel. Don't worry about the evening hours at first. Pretty soon you will be tired enough to go to bed earlier. When this occurs, go to bed a little earlier each night until your sleep and wake times allow at least 8 hours. Keep your room dark and cool. Use natural fiber bedding. Sleep wearing cotton socks. Don't drink within an hour of retiring. wear earplugs if your spouse snores.