{"version":1,"type":"rich","provider_name":"Libsyn","provider_url":"https:\/\/www.libsyn.com","height":90,"width":600,"title":"Sword in One Hand, Spatula in the Other: Homemaking Isn\u2019t Small - BLOG","description":"Homemaking Isn\u2019t Cute. It\u2019s Holy. I woke up to wicked laughter coming from the living room. Not the sweet kind of laughter. The suspicious kind. The kind that makes your eyes fly open and your stomach immediately drop. The two-year-old twins had clearly escaped their beds and were up to something. I groaned and dragged my very pregnant body out of bed. I was 38 weeks along with our second set of twin boys, my feet already swollen before the day had even begun, contractions rolling in and out like background noise. I knew before my feet even hit the floor that this was going to be a long day. I rounded the corner into the living room and just stood there. Flour. Everywhere. The boys were deliriously happy, covered head to toe in white powder. The dining room was coated. The kitchen counters were coated. The floor looked like it had snowed indoors overnight. I snapped a picture to send to Jason and laughed \u2014 and then promptly cried. It was barely 6am. How could the day already be this off the rails? You don\u2019t need to have twins back-to-back while nine months pregnant to understand this part: making a home is hard sometimes. It\u2019s exhausting. It\u2019s discouraging. It\u2019s often thankless. There are days where it feels like everything you just cleaned gets undone in five minutes flat and no one even notices the effort. And yet\u2026 when I look back on that day now, I feel something very different. The labor pains are long gone. The swollen feet are back to normal. The boys wipe their own bottoms now. (I truly never thought I\u2019d miss those early years\u2026 but here we are.) I wouldn\u2019t necessarily want to relive that exact morning again \ud83d\ude05  but with a little perspective, I can see the joy in it. The life in it. The sweetness hidden inside the mess and exhaustion. That day wasn\u2019t wasted. It was building something. \u2e3b The World Says This Work Is Small The world has a lot of opinions about homemaking. It tells us it\u2019s outdated. That it\u2019s small. That it\u2019s soft. That it\u2019s a fallback plan instead of a calling. We\u2019re told the real heroes are the ones climbing ladders, collecting titles, stacking promotions, building something that can be measured and applauded and posted online. If you stay home, don\u2019t you know that\u2019s risky? Don\u2019t you know you should protect yourself more? Don\u2019t you know you could be doing something \u201cbigger\u201d? What we rarely talk about is the sacrifice it takes to care deeply for a home. The emotional energy. The physical labor. The constant decision-making. The invisible leadership. The way your heart is constantly poured out in tiny, daily ways. And we almost never talk about the joy and quiet accomplishment that lives here too. We\u2019ve stopped seeing the glory in the ordinary. The beat-up minivan. The hand-me-down clothes. The frugal meals. The sticky counters. The tired evenings. The repetitive rhythms. But there is something sacred happening inside all of it. \u2e3b This Isn\u2019t Soft Work Homemaking isn\u2019t cute. It isn\u2019t always aesthetic. It isn\u2019t slow mornings and perfect sourdough and filtered sunlight, at least, not always! Sometimes it\u2019s sanctifying. Sometimes it takes grit. Sometimes it takes a lot of grace on repeat. Every time you choose patience instead of snapping. Every time you choose prayer instead of panic. Every time you choose faithfulness when no one is clapping. Every time you clean the same mess again and still choose joy. Every time you train a heart instead of just managing behavior. You are pushing back darkness. You are shaping souls. You are guarding the tone of your home. You are cultivating peace and order and truth in a world that desperately lacks it. That is not small work. That is Kingdom work. \u2e3b Sword in One Hand, Spatula in the Other   There\u2019s this beautiful picture in Scripture of builders working with a tool in one hand and a weapon in the other: building while staying alert, grounded, and ready. I think about that often in homemaking. We\u2019re wiping counters while praying for hearts. We\u2019re folding laundry while teaching obedience and gratitude. We\u2019re breaking up sibling fights while modeling forgiveness. We\u2019re feeding bodies while nurturing souls. It looks ordinary on the outside. But spiritually? It\u2019s deeply significant. You are not \u201cjust\u201d a mom. You are not \u201cjust\u201d a homemaker. You are guarding the gates of your home. \u2e3b Rooted, Not Perfect You don\u2019t need to be Pinterest-perfect. You don\u2019t need the cleanest house, the prettiest meals, or the most impressive routines. You need to be rooted in Christ. That\u2019s what makes your work powerful. That\u2019s what steadies you when the work feels unseen. That\u2019s what anchors you when the days blur together. That\u2019s what keeps your joy from being dependent on circumstances. When the enemy whispers, \u201cThis doesn\u2019t matter,\u201d you get to whisper back: \u201cAs for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.\u201d \u2e3b So Sister, Keep Building If you\u2019re tired today\u2026 If you feel unseen\u2026 If the work feels repetitive or overwhelming\u2026 If you\u2019re wondering whether it\u2019s really making a difference\u2026 Let me remind you: You are doing holy work. Don\u2019t quit. Don\u2019t shrink back. Pick up your sword \u2014 and your spatula \u2014 and keep building. The fruit of faithful homemaking often grows quietly. But it grows deep. ","author_name":"Finding Joy in Your Home","author_url":"https:\/\/findingjoyinyourhome.com\/category\/podcast\/","html":"