Homemaker's Prayer

Last night I started reading this book. (lent to me by a friend who knew I would love it, and I do!)I fell in love with it from the first paragraph (pictured below)! reflections on the value of home, timeless good advice for homemakers, prayers, stories and recipesconnected to the stories! In the first chapter, (written in the '60's) she is contemplating the increasing breakdown of homes,  the foundation of strong nations!Even more relevant now! Lord, help me to make home a haven of kindness and graceFor nothing else in all the world can take home-sweet-home’s placeThen fit me with Thy joy and strength, fill every task I doWith thankfulness and love, so above all, I honour You Lord, help me guard the heart of home with fierce, yet tender careLest some ruinous habit leaves it in sad disrepairKeep me aware of what may harm or wreck its shielding wingFor the heart of the home is like a living, breathing Thing … And never let the barb of discontentment tear a holeInto the fabric that ought to protect, cheer and consoleLord, when my home begins to feel like a fragile, chipped cupStill, let no failure foster the temptation to give up Lord, teach me with humility to tend with mother’s prideTo details that kindle a glow that reaches far and wideSo that, no matter how far from its happy hearth we roamThe flicker of love’s Candlelight instills a sense of home …and always draws us gladly back to where we long to beTo nourish us with home-sweet-home’s familiarityWhere welcomes are never worn thin, where love attends life’s woesIn, pray what grants a glimpse of Home beyond time’s curtain-close © Janet Martin I love how the beginning of the second chapter is in sync with the season I am in;slowly tucking Christmas away, bit by bit Books like this kindle in me a sweet contentment for the domestic 'mundane'  blissFor things like mending... ironing... folding laundry... tidying clutter... making cabbage rolls... (enough to freeze some for convenient suppers-for-one)) Cabbage Rolls... Psalm 51:10Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.