Choosing a slow day where we have stayed home all day is a TREAT. I didn’t always use to think this way. I’m more of an introvert, but I do also like some spontaneity in my life, especially as a mom. But I’ve seen something happen during the years. Days at home have become special. Necessary. Life-giving, even. Days where we don’t have to rush off anywhere, do something, meet anyone. Of course, at home there is the school work and teaching, doing of chores together, cooking food 3 times a day, laundering, all the homemaking things.
But these are the days where there is space to linger of the kids’ favorite book — again. Or bake a spontaneous loaf of banana bread with one of the kids. Or take a walk in our neighborhood. Or make slow food. Or go check on our garden and celebrate the sprouting carrot seeds planted 11 days ago. Or have a good conversation with a child who needs extra attention and encouragement.
It feels easier – almost like there’s a gravitational pull – to LEAVE the house looking for fulfillment. But as time goes on, and my mindset is being challenged and reformed, I’m finding great joy and contentment in living our day anchored at home. And the kids do, too, it turns out. There is space for creativity, ideas born out of a slightly-bored moment (those of you born before the mid-90’s, the state of being bored was a common enough occurrence before all of these screens showed up).
Staying home is a sacred discipline, if you’d like to think of it as such. It is these days we all seem to be more content, more present to God and each other. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not a hermit mentality. We want to follow Jesus into His way of life. And I’m finding that some days, leading a “quiet” life at home, not doing anything flashy and entertaining outside of the home, is good for the soul. There’s a contentment that must be embraced to stay at home and know that most of the world is working, traveling, striving, etc. We are, too, but with a feeling of contentment. And if God brings across a neighbor in need, or a mom friend that is sick, we can more easily enter in to ministering to them because we are not rushing around.
Not every one of our days is lived this way. More like 3 out of the 7 days, due to hybrid school schedules. But I’m embracing it for us. We’re growing and learning as we go. And keeping in mind this verse,
“Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life: You should mind your own business and work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody.”
{ 1 Thessalonians 4:11-12 }