THE HOME MANAGER

I am speaking to a MOPS group this week, and thought I would share my notes:

In I Timothy 5:10-14 wives are instructed to be, among other things, "house despots", or, as translated, "home managers."
I. What have we been given to manage?
A. Children
B. Hospitality
C. Service to the needy

II. What is a manager?
"One who conducts affairs with economy and care; a person who directs a team." (Webster) I love that definition. It gives focus to my management. Just because you are a "stay at home" mom does not necessarily mean you are fulfilling God's command of being a "keeper at home." As home managers, we have a long range goal in view. Homemaking is not merely maid work. A maid goes down a list and gets the job done. A manager is concerned about the big picture. For instance, a maid will match and fold the socks to get it done. A home manager may do that same task, but include her children, and teach them matching and colors while they get the job done.

III. How can we manage our homes efficiently, with economy and care?
A. Determine the right goal, or standard for your home. Every home is different. What is your husband comfortable with? Are you comfortable if someone just drops by for a visit? Or are you scrambling around, picking up clutter while they ring the doorbell? Is the neatness level in your home pretty constant? Or do the children come in one day when you are in a cleaning frenzy and ask who is coming over for dinner?
***However, we must remember that people do not live in the rooms that a photographed for LIVING or Good Housekeeping!

B. Organize with your goals in view.
1. Eliminate and Concentrate. Eliminate clutter. Concentrate on the things you love (especially the people!!)
2. Teach yourself and the children, "A place for everything, and everything in its place."
"Dirty clothes must go in the hamper just as fast as dirty thoughts in our minds must be done away with. Both are unworthy of lying around, untended to, in the life of a child of God."--Ann Ortlund in Disciplines of the Beautiful Woman (this book helped me immensely)
3. Go through your wardrobe--eliminate and concentrate. Eliminate the things you "just might wear someday" and concentrate on a few things you feel good in (those are the only things you wear, anyway)
4. Watch the way you spend your time for a week. Are you being a good steward of the time God has given you? Being a stay at home mom does not give us liberty to squander our time on trivial pursuits. We will give an account of the way we managed our time.
5. Plan out meals for at least a week at a time--even better, a month! Unless the Lord comes back, one thing is inevitable--we will need to have supper on the table! So why wait until 3 pm to decide what to fix? Always know before you go to bed at night what you will be serving for the next day's dinner. Better planning means better economy. When supper is already organized in the morning, you avoid much stress when the toddler's are not having a good day.
6. Establish a routine for your children--meals, bedtime, reading time

IV. Make plans, but always commit them to God. Ask Him to interrupt your plans if that is His purpose for you that day.
Proverbs 16:9--The mind of man plans his way, but the LORD directs his steps."