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Mrs. Dunwoody’s Excellent Instructions for Homekeeping

Posted On Wednesday, May 20th, 2009

Under: Building Self-Confidence, Friends, Healing after Loss, Service, The Healing Power of Service, Womanly Arts

When I saw that title on my daughter’s bookshelf, I was instantly intrigued. I have always been drawn to books about homemaking, housekeeping, and creating beauty at home. Those with an old-fashioned bent  are my favorites – I think in our fast-paced world “making a home” has lost some of the charm it once held in years past. I am reminded of that charm each time I visit the home of one of my aunts. Nearing her eightieth birthday, she still loves to practice the disappearing art of hospitality.

When I arrive at her door, she welcomes me with open arms, and invites me to sit on her couch. We visit; she wants to know all about what I’m doing, and to hear about each of the children, and then she invariably leads me into the kitchen where she has something delectable waiting to share with me. Lately, she sits and watches as I eat, instead of joining me. “My waistline, you know,” she says, with a twinkle in her eye.

She has had her share of disappointment and sorrow in her life. She lost a son to cancer, an extremely difficult trial for her.

But through her disappointments, through all the difficulties life has brought her way, she has remained giving and generous, always ready to extend an invitation to ‘come visit.’

Perhaps she knows something we all could learn from. Perhaps she finds healing and comfort in creating a place of peace, and in sharing it. Perhaps the chance to focus on and serve another lifts her heart and, for a few moments, her sorrow is replaced with the joy that comes from lifting another soul.

I believe that is true. I believe there is healing in making our homes places where those who enter (including ourselves) can feel peace. I believe as we find ways to increase our enjoyment in doing so, we will feel more fulfilled, and we will discover a desire to reach out and share that peace with others.

Homemaking (or “Homekeeping” as author Miriam Lukken calls it) is one way we express our love for and serve those who share or visit our homes. Maybe Mrs. Dunwoody’s Excellent Instructions and other similar books can remind us of that scriptural admonition, “when ye are in the service of your fellow men, ye are only in the service of your God.”

And maybe then we will be reminded, once again, that the surest way to peace and healing and happiness in this life is through serving others.

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