Putting Heart into Our Home

I find myself hitting on blogs that serenade home and promote contentedness therein. The ones I have tatted over of late, but not confined to, are:

By Sun and Candlelight
Domestic Felicity
Raising Homemakers (especially when it means becoming Queen of your Home)
Keeping House book study (because I have this book and love it)
Simple Mom (I know an inspired home post when I see it)
Home Living (where Lady Lydia never fails to speak words of truth about our homes)
I Take Joy (Sally Clarkson is forever my hero in how I view my home and family ministry...she raises the bar...she assures us that it is noble to overcome this world's perception of home and recapture the beauty...perfectly noble)

I sometimes think it will become of utmost necessity that we begin to appreciate and seek contentment within our homes. The world, perhaps not in my lifetime nor that of my daughters, threatens to make our homes fortresses once again.

I don't find that idealistic or out-of-tune with the real world. Truly, I see it becoming more the norm. And have we really ever gotten away from all things homey and worthwhile?

Why else would women consume so many house and garden magazines? Why else would women spend so many hours watching cooking shows? Why else would women spend so much money crafty and decorating their homes? Why else would Martha Stewart, Paula Deen, and Rachael Ray become kitchen heroines?

Home becomes interesting if we make it an enterprise, a hobby, a part of our existence. It becomes a place we want to be when we take a heart-to-heart interest in it.

I think, for the most part, there are those hearts who are turned towards home simply because it is within our hearts to do so. There are those who, for whatever reasons, find staying home a struggle and a stretch. Personality defines most of it. Introverts prefer home over extroverts. Yet there is always a stage in a woman's life when she desires to master her territory, create pretty, useful things, and inhale the smells of cooking within her own kitchen. It's a primal call to enter into the heart of things and make it a place that brings a group together in unity, peace, and service.

To do so, to invite others into our heart, we offer out pieces of our heart. We do this through offerings given in communal dispensation. We invoke the senses of sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch and, through the work of our hands, enter into reception communion with the hearts of others.

Sight: smiles, clutter-free places, fresh flowers, meaningful art
Sound: background music, laughter, pleasant conversation, harmony
Smell: candles (Scentsy), coffee brewing, open windows in springtime, baking in oven
Taste: fresh-baked goodies and drinks
Touch: Gentle hands

{free heart clipart}