Sunday, August 19, 2007

Keeping House~ Part Two

I want to post some quotes form the book Keeping House, but this is such a good book that it is hard to pick out just a few passages. It really is worth the read.

Chapter 1
What's Christian About Housework?

pg 2-3
People need to eat, to sleep, to have clothes to wear; they need a place to read, a place to play, a place into which to welcome guest from which to go forth into the world. These are the needs that housework exist to meet.


Jesus had alot to say about feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, and sheltering the homeless. These Christian duties begin at home. It is when these duties are done in our homes it enables the rest of the family to go out and to meet the needs of others.

pg 4-5
Domesticity, we are to believe, is a leisure activity, one that results in elaborate, spotless perfection while requiring nothing of us but that we purchase a few brand-name products or publications.

Magazine racks are full of publications to inspire to have beautiful rooms, the home make over shows are on every network, but they don't address the HEART of a home. Making a home is not something you do as an extreme makeover on a weekend. It takes working at it day in and day out. pg 7 ...housework may be mundane, but it is not simple!

pg 5-6
Sociologist, Arkin Hochschild, documents the increasing prevalence of homes in which every adult member of the household works full time for pay outside the home and no one bears explicit, dedicated responsibility- even part time- for task inside the home. The result, she says, is homes of chaotic and unstructured that all the adults in the household would rather be at work than at home. After all, at work people know what their jobs are and can take a break when they are done; at home all anyone knows is that it is a mess waiting for someone to clean it up.


2 comments:

Debbie J said...

Thanks for the comment on my blog! I would like to do a post on the fall quilt that shows how I made it. I'm looking forward to checking out your blog as time allows!

Carmen at Old House Homestead said...

I think I might have to give the book a try. I enjoy being a keeper of the home but some days it's hard...physically, emotionally, and spiritually.

Thanks!

Hugs,
Carmen