Home is more like a bus-interchange

The buffet with some my birthday cards

Housekeeping and home life are in a state of decline. Comfort and engagement at home have diminished to the point that even simple cleanliness and decent meals - let alone any deeper satisfaction - are no longer taken for granted in many homes.  Homes today are often seem to operate on an ad hoc basis. . . . 

I couldn't agree more with Cheryl Mendelson, home has started to loose its appeal and it has become more like a bus interchange than a place where a person stops and recharges. It is now a location where family members wave at each other as they rush through on their way to all the many activities that modern families seem to be involved in.  

I have friends that not only work all day, but are often out most evenings - to restaurants, to sports events, to the cinema, visiting friends and I wonder when they are ever home. Whilst I do work during the day I rarely go out in the evenings (especially doing the week) as I love being at home doing things around the house and being with my husband. Even on weekends I avoid to many away-from-home activities so I can enjoy all the time I have at home.  Home is no longer considered a sanctuary after a weary day. Its a place to sleep and store belongings.  

. . .  Although a large enthusiastic minority of home cooks grow more and more sophisticated, the majority become even more deskilled. 

Not only are women becoming deskilled in the kitchen, they are becoming deskilled across all aspects of housekeeping. This is a serious problem because who will teach the next generation to take care their homes . . .  how to cook, wash clothes, keep the house clean all the way through to creating a "home".  My son has shared rentals with a number of young males and from what I have seen they have no idea how to keep a house clean and tidy and it frustrates my son endlessly. 

Homes are loosing their personal touch, that special feeling that you get when you walk into a well loved home. As Cheryl Mendelson points out in her book "Home Comforts", modern homes are often one extreme or the other; looking more like a hotel room or a picture from glossy magazine or the complete opposite, dusty and unloved. They have lost that special atmosphere.  Sadly these home are uninviting even though they are full of "things". I suppose if you are hardly ever at home, it no longer matter how the homes "feels".  Its very sad we have reached this point in society.

The sense of being at home is important to everyone's well-being. If you do not get enough of it, your happiness, resilience, energy, humour and courage will decrease. . . Home includes familiarity, warmth, affection and a conviction of security. Being at home feels safe; you have a sense of relief whenever you come home and close the door behind you, reducing fear of social and emotional dangers as well as physical ones. 

Our homes are important and we need to take good care of them.  Whilst everyone else may be giving up on "home", we have a responsibility to keep the "home fires burning" and teach our children to do the same. Home is far more than a house and we don't pour our love into our homes for nothing, we do it for our husbands and children and we do it for Christ to whom we do all things for. 

And above all things have fervent love for one another, for “love will cover a multitude of sins.” Be hospitable to one another without grumbling.

1 Peter 4:8-9

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