Serving the Home with Purpose, Wisdom + Intentionality
When I got married, I had no idea how our marriage would unfold year after year. I just knew one thing, to trust God every step of the way and serve one another with integrity, purpose, and intentionality. Becoming parents has changed our world in so many ways as we have learned how to be more intentional in prioritizing our home. I remember when we moved into our first house, I turned to Marquis and said, “I want to create a home I don’t always need a vacation from.” As we do love vacations and family outings—I want to ensure that being away from home is not the only thing that will bring peace, fun, laughter, and love to one another. We have had many discussions in our home about not just living to get to the weekend to escape from all the stressors of the week. The Lord has laid a foundation for us to enjoy and steward the life He has given us with gratitude. We just have to make a decision to allow the Lord to bring order to our homes that begins with what we allow to stir into our hearts and mind.
There are many seasons of my life where I focused so much on getting to the weekend that I forgot that God graced me to enjoy life during the week—even when things were challenging. In our home, we wear a lot of different hats together collectively. We are parents to our children, ministry leaders in our church, overseers of our home, employees to people on a job, friends to those we love, writers, podcasters, mentors, and other things. I didn’t want our home to be in a state of living to just get to the weekend. We continually work together to provide a structure that lessens chaos, anxiety, and fear of the daily life operations in our home. It is about stewarding everything God has in front of us and learning to persevere through trials while remaining in Christ that guides us.
In Phillipaisn 4:12-13, the Apostle Paul writes about being content in all circumstances. Paul said in the scriptures, “I know how to make do with little, and I know how to make do with a lot. In any circumstances, I have learned the secret of being content—whether well fed or hungry, whether in abundance or in need. I am able to do all things through him who strengthens me.”
What does that mean? It means that Paul knew how to be content in His walk with Christ no matter the season of life he was in. He knew how to be content whether He was in need or rather He was managing a lot over a little. When we are truly content through our different seasons of life, we are letting God know how much we trust Him to provide for us, even when the odds are against us.
Throughout our marriage, we have had to learn to be content through financial burdens and blessings, job transitions, ministry adjustments, and emotions that simply come with change. God has called us to steward what He placed in our hands. If a home, He will give us the supplies to take care of it. If children, He will give us the strength to nurture them. If finances, He will give us the wisdom to manage it. We can’t do it on our own, we must be led by the Holy Spirit who gives us the wisdom to navigate these areas.
Proverbs 4: 6-7 says, “Don’t abandon wisdom, and she will watch over you; love her, and she will guard you. Wisdom is supreme — so get wisdom.” The word of God is clear on the benefits of godly wisdom. It protects marriages, children, communities, workplaces, and churches. Wisdom is what helps us to navigate the different transitions we face in life. That is why scripture says not to abandon wisdom. The kind of wisdom that the Lord gives us to walk through this life day by day.
One of the things that has helped our home is by incorporating weekly family check-ins every single Wednesday over dinner (You can totally steal this). We started this tradition over two years ago when our daughter was in her first year of life. We made this change because I would be pouring out to my husband as soon as he walked in the door about every hard part of the day. I focused so much on the hard that I couldn’t celebrate or appreciate the good. During check-ins, we share about one win for the week and evaluate how we are doing personally. It always gives us space to not bombard the weekend with all the issues, adjustments, or transitional seasons of life so we can simply enjoy the fruit of the labor that we invest in as our family grows. We check in other days of course, but Wednesdays are much more intentional with our conversations.
As a full-time mother at home, it is such a reward to have gotten to a place of not spending the weekend tackling a load of house responsibilities because of the rhythms we changed and implemented in our home throughout the week. When God’s word teaches us true stewardship, we can begin to see where time has been wasted on things that aren’t on His heart. Thankfully, as I was navigating areas where I wanted to grow in stewardship to my home, gifts, and callings, I encountered Every Woman A Theologian’s Grace-Based Productivity course by Phylicia Masonshimer that gave practical tips for gracious productivity and biblical time management (it is free).
Making prayer, Bible reading, and caring for the communities we are called to a priority helps us to lean on a greater source, Christ, that allows us to share in each other’s burdens without trying to be “Bob the Builder” that wants to quickly fix things that only God can. It also models to our children ways we love one another and care for others. How life is not just about the needs we have—-but also about being considerate of other people around us.
Everyone’s family dynamic will always look different but the most important thing I want to communicate is, the Lord has blessed us abundantly to be able to serve our families with wisdom, love, intention, and care. We are held responsible and accountable to God for how we take care of what He has given us. Today, we can choose wisdom in the Lord to guard our homes, finances, fears, faith, children, workplaces, and more. Be friends with wisdom.
"Just as each one has received a gift, use it to serve others, as good stewards of the varied grace of God." 1 Peter 4:10
(How does one implement things that strengthen the home in godly wisdom and health? I have a free printable for you that I have been keeping on my fridge for some weeks now. You can download it here which may help. Try it out and see if there are areas that can help you serve your family with purpose and intention).
These printables are based on the blog Serving the Home with Purpose, Wisdom + Intentionality. These templates can help families navigate ways to strengthen the home through the different responsibilities the household carries.
