Meridian Magazine : : Homemaking Made Easy: Take Homemaking to a Spiritual Level

Take Homemaking to a Spiritual Level
By Natalie J. Hale

There is a recurring theme that has affected homemakers throughout the ages. This theme is still here today, and where in generations past it didn’t need to be addressed so often because society at large didn’t look down on the role of homemakers, the subject now, however, needs to be addressed over and over again.

At one time or another so many of us find ourselves encumbered by just the everyday, mundane duties of homemaking that we feel overwhelmed. We get hardly any respect for the sacrifice we make to have families, and then to stay at home with them because “mothers are primarily responsible for the nurture of their children” (The Family: A Proclamation to the World,” Ensign, Nov. 1995, 102).

We do laundry, cook meals, wipe runny noses, change countless diapers, and the list goes on. And the next day it starts all over again. These things really are at the crux of everyday homemaking.

Because that is so, I can hardly cover every aspect of the deep and vital role of a homemaker in just one paper. That’s why I’m going to make this into a several-part series, each one building on the foundations of the previous. As for now, I’ll focus on the vision of not just homemaking, but rather a title I’ll call enlightened homemaking. The specifics I’ll leave for later pieces.

What is enlightened homemaking?

Enlightened homemaking goes beyond just cleaning and cooking — it’s cleaning and cooking with vision. It’s being that stay-at-home wife and mother with a divine mission, who knows it and loves it. It is a woman who takes the daily, mundane care of homemaking and couples it with the Gospel of Jesus Christ to magnify her holy calling with grace and beauty. That is why I sat down and composed the 12 Specialties of Enlightened Homemaking and published it at http://www.enlightenedhomemaker.com

The fact stands, and as I mentioned already, that in today’s culture and society there is little to no support for what homemakers do. The world tells us to get a life, to focus on ourselves, or to be fulfilled. But when you look at the greater or enlightened picture, it’s they who need to “get a life” and quit focusing so much on themselves and look for more opportunities to appropriately serve someone else.

Anyone could be hired to wash dishes and cook meals — that’s called a maid. Because you are the wife and mother — the queen of your kingdom — means more than just keeping a house clean and kids fed. You’re engaged in an eternal act of service worthy of thrones and crowns. I know the diaper changing doesn’t seem grand, but it so perfectly falls in accordance with God’s work and glory to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man (see Moses 1:39). Why is that?

It’s an unselfish act — people don’t trample each other for the privilege of changing a dirty diaper. It’s smelly, messy, and usually inconvenient.
It’s a real need — your baby cannot and should not be expected to change his own diaper. At this point in his life he is without capability to do so.

And though the occupation of enlightened homemaking might appear unimportant, President Gordon B. Hinckley so eloquently states that:

Each of us has a small field to cultivate. While so doing, we must never lose sight of the greater picture, the large composite of the divine destiny of this work. It was given us by God our Eternal Father, and each of us has a part to play in the weaving of its magnificent tapestry. Our individual contribution may be small, but it is not unimportant. When we were children we learned a nursery rhyme:

Little drops of water,
Little grains of sand
Make the mighty ocean,
And the pleasant land.

So it is with us in our service in the kingdom of God. Many small efforts and little acts become the cumulative pattern of a great worldwide organization (Gordon B. Hinckley, “An Ensign to the Nations,” Ensign, Nov. 1989, 51).

If changing diapers does not qualify as our small, yet important, part in the magnificent tapestry, I don’t know what does! It truly is an unselfish act that needs to be done.

Elder Jeffery R. Holland builds on this when he states that,

Yours is the grand tradition of Eve, the mother of all the human family. Yours is the grand tradition of Sarah and Rebekah and Rachel, without whom there could not have been those magnificent patriarchal promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob which bless us all. Yours is the grand tradition of Lois and Eunice and the mothers of the 2,000 stripling warriors. Yours is the grand tradition of Mary, chosen and foreordained from before this world was, to conceive, carry, and bear the Son of God Himself. We thank all of you, including our own mothers, and tell you there is nothing more important in this world than participating so directly in the work and glory of God, in bringing to pass the mortality and earthly life of His daughters and sons, so that immortality and eternal life can come in those celestial realms on high (in Conference Report, Apr. 1997, 48; or Ensign, May 1997, 36).

Enlightened Homemaking truly is an eternal calling but it is also a refining process, a denying of the ungodly within us (see Moroni 10: 31-32). “Furthermore, unselfishness is best grown in the family garden.” (Neal A. Maxwell, “Repent of [Our] Selfishness” (D&C 56:8),” Ensign, May 1999, 23)

Though many voices may teach by word or example that service is not true service unless done outside the home, take into account the previously quoted prophetic statements and realize that those voices might not be speaking for God. For:

Let every mother realize that she has no greater blessing than the children which have come to her as a gift from the Almighty; that she has no greater mission than to rear them in light and truth, in understanding and love;

I remind mothers everywhere of the sanctity of your calling. No other can adequately take your place. No responsibility is greater, no obligation more binding than that you rear in love and peace and integrity those whom you have brought into the world (Gordon B. Hinckley, “Bring Up a Child in the Way He Should Go,” Ensign, Nov. 1993, 54).

Even the Savior Himself brings to our understanding of the nobility of true service when he said, “Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.” (Matt 25:40)

And does not one’s own family qualify as the “one of the least of these”?

So, though the world and those of it may for whatever reason or motive influence us to take a different path, the doctrine of our divine mission and purpose as enlightened homemakers stands. Take comfort in that truth even though our contribution in this work may seem small and without glamour and praise, we are doing our part in the grand tapestry when we serve the least of our brethren, even our families.

Natalie is the editor of Enlightened Homemaker newsletter. Each monthly issue contains homemaking and parenting helps, including articles and preschool activities. For more information visit http://www.enlightenedhomemaker.com