Wisdom Wednesday: Showing Love

Those of you who have been reading for a while know that the title "homemaker" used to make me cringe.  As I'm growing to love the title and embracing all that comes with making a home, I'm continually thinking about defining what that exactly means.

Webster's disappointed me:

¹home

 noun \ˈhōm\

: the place (such as a house or apartment) where a person lives

: a family living together in one building, house, etc.

: a place where something normally or naturally lives or is located

Despite what the dictionary says, I think we as a culture understand "home" to be much more than simply the place where one lives.  There's more emotion, I think.  We collectively understand a distinction between "house" and "home," as evidenced by the number of people who talk about "making a house a home," and in that sense I think the dictionary definition above is more about a house than a home.  As I continue to try to define (mostly for myself, but also for those of you who are tagging along here) what exactly home is, I've looked again to some wise words.

(Note: the Wisdom Wednesday (obviously) has not become an every week thing...some weeks I've skipped posting all together, and other times on Wednesdays I've done the 5 Favorites link-up - like last week's 5 favorites about being a stay-at-home mom).  When I do include wise quotes, I'll add them to my "Home Inspiration" page).

Turning again to Mother Teresa:

Love begins at home, and it is not how much we do...but how much love we put in that action.

Above all, I think it could be argued that as Christian parents, our obligation is to teach our children to love - not to love as the world loves, but to truly, selflessly love as Christ does.  And, really, it's our obligation in our own lives to continually develop and grow closer to this perfect love.  We are called not just to teach it, but to live it.  And by living it, thus teaching it in the most effective way.

As I see it, all the trappings of home are showing this love.  We all have different ways of showing our love (you've all read The Five Love Languages, right? - if you haven't, go do so!), but whether its cooking or baking or decorating or - is there really anybody that gets excited about... doing lots of laundry? - that we get excited about, I think the root of that is loving our families.  Or maybe for some people there's no excitement or joy at all in doing any of these tasks, but you do them anyway with love.

The reminder for me, today, in this quote is not to get focused in the details - all alone, the fall candle doesn't mean anything to Anna.  But if she knows I lit it because I care about her feeling warm and cozy and loved - that's worth something.  The more important lesson for me is that some days there's no time for decorations or nice meals or the ways that I want to show love.  On those days or those nights (ahem, last night; two molars = fussy baby), I'm called to put all of my love into the actions that my family needs most.