Women experience shame about their bodies and their homes, I’ve read.
What are a home, and a body, for? Serving God. Loving my family. Making them and others feel welcome and cared for. I want my body to be healthy and capable of living with joy; I want my home to be a place of peace and rest for me and others.
I want to use my muscles and skin and bones and belly the way they were meant to used: happily, gratefully, growing babies inside this belly, wrapping my arms around them and their dad, moving around our community, getting out of breath breathing fresh air and enjoying the outdoors. I want to delight in food, its nutrients and color, and never discount the deep joy and goodness of God found in abundant butter.
I want to respect the real overstimulation I struggle with when surrounded by clutter and last night’s dinner remains. And when it happens I hope to grow able to stay genuinely cheerful anyway. I refuse the lie that clear counters will bring peace to my heart, and I want my family and our friends to feel the rest of a comfortable space inside our walls. I delight in the cabinets and bookshelves overflowing with the books and craft supplies and Magna-tiles that fill my children’s hands and hearts. I am grateful when I wake up to a clean kitchen and if I have the chance to spend time with my husband or a dear friend after bedtime instead of picking up then it’s worth forgoing.
I’m trying to eat more fruits and vegetables and even get my heart rate up sometimes, and I’m also okay with elastic waistbands- three babies in four years left their mark and I welcome it. Our living room picks up well, and we’re getting better at dishes, and we all function better in tidiness and that’s worth working for. And our kitchen island being covered with evidence of a full day isn’t ideal but I can dance with my kids around it- and I’m inviting friends over even so because otherwise when would they come?
A home, and a body. I live in them both. Here’s to stewarding them, joyfully inhabiting them, working hard to keep them at their best, and growing in cheerfulness on the days that work is messy. May I take joy in them and serve God with them. Amen.
