The Hidden Art of Homemaking

The Hidden Art of Homemaking

By Edith Schaeffer

I ordered this book after seeing it recommended on several websites I follow.  Based on the title, I figured it might be something to help me keep the bathroom clean or how to stay on top of laundry - anything to help me be a better homemaker...

Was I in for a pleasant surprise!

Housecleaning tips were nowhere to be found.

Instead, Hidden Art was a treasure trove full of ways to enrich my life and the lives of those around me; wonderful ideas of how to use the interests and talents God has given me and mine to glorify Him and round out our lives, making them full and deep.

A few things that stood out for me:

v God is the original artist! The Bible tells us that, “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork,” (Psalm 19:1). God is the original designer, painter, sculptor, writer, gardener, baker, composer.

v People were made in the image of God; in the image of the Creator; in the image of the Artist. Therefore, people were created to create. It is not a waste of time to pursue creativity, after all this is what we were given the skills to do.

v Hidden Art – each person has a talent or interest hidden away in their being; something they aren’t using as their career, something they yearn to do. Somehow. Someday. Stifling this desire detracts from who they are and how they feel as a person.

The author spends most of the book going through the variety of mediums she calls “hidden art”. I will only note the ones that impacted me personally. Read the book and see what impacts you!

v Music – God wants to hear our praises! Instruments, voice, it doesn’t matter.

I have come to realize there are people for which music is as natural as breathing. For these individuals tone, pitch and rhythm are innate.  Connecting notes to form chords, and other pleasant sounding melodies, is second nature.

A real musician “just knows”.

Once I figured out I was not that kind of person, despite years of music lessons, I was much happier and freer to pursue what I was good at. And I can still sing and play praises to God, just not at the front of the whole church.

Thankfully!

Note to parent: I need to expose my children to a variety of music and a variety of musical settings to set any natural enjoyment or talent in motion.

We’ve had the interesting experience these last four years of struggling through music lessons with my eldest. Very quickly he determined music was not his “thing”; we, his parents, did not arrive at this discovery so swiftly. Now, after a good effort, we are finally retiring our position of, “want well-rounded child; will play music.”

We still want a well-rounded child, for his sake as much as ours, but we also realize that music isn’t the only thing that can add “roundness” to this particular child’s life. 

Soon we’ll move on to child number two. Perhaps music will be his “thing”.

v Painting, Sketching, Sculpturing – There are people who set out to draw or paint or carve an elephant and, when they are finished, their work actually looks like an elephant!

Again, I am not one of those people!

Edith Schaeffer points out, that if one waits for the day when they have hours to themselves or when they have the perfect setting  or when a nice fat pay check comes their way, they may be waiting for a very, very long time. They’ll never draw (or write, or act, or decorate, or whatever their hidden art may be).

There are so many other means to use this interest and talent. Draw in your prayer journal as a way to worship and praise God. Illustrate sermon notes or a kid’s church lesson for clarity and interest. Decorate your “to-do” list! The possibilities are truly endless.

Note to parent: How will my child ever know they have a passion for sketching if they are never given paper and a pencil? How will I ever know if my child has a passion for sketching if I don't give them the opportunity to draw and create? Provide the tools and the opportunity and my child will take it from there!

Interestingly, my children love to draw. The eldest will sit and draw intricately designed battles and sea monsters whenever he gets the chance, and, as a result, the second follows suit. Together they sit at the kitchen table and fight over colours and paper and space as they create worlds on paper. Alone, they just sit and draw. Further, because her brothers love to draw and she sees them at this activity daily, the third has also started.

It is amazing when peer pressure works in a parents favour!

Creativity at work.

v Interior Decoration – I love a nice looking house. I love a clean house. Though one would never know it half the time – thus the search for bathroom cleaning secrets!

From Edith Schaeffer’s perspective, the hidden art of Interior Decoration is simply what we do with our living space. She goes so far as to suggest one should bring personal items to decorate a hotel room if it’s going to be home longer than a day or two!

I guarantee this is the last thing on my mind as I am packing for a family of six. 

However, she does say a few things in this chapter that struck me hard:

·        “This place should be expressing something of yourself,” (pg 66).

·        “Interior Decoration...is not just one’s artistic efforts, but is that which your home...is. If you are ‘decorating’ with clothes draped on every chair, with scratched or broken furniture-it is still your interior decoration!” (pg 76).   Ouch!!!

·        “And for the Christian who is consciously in communication with the Creator, surely his home should reflect something of the artistry, the beauty and order of the One whom he is representing, and in whose image he has been made!”(pg 82).

v Gardens and Gardening – At the moment, I can’t relate to this section. I have no grass, no trees, no flowers and, certainly, no garden plot. Even when I’ve had a great garden space, I found I was so busy trying to keep the inside presentable I didn’t have the time to do much outside.

That said, flowers, vegetables, canning, preserving are all things I can aspire to.

Once I have grass and a clean house!

A separate take home message, however, is that as a Christian I should have a deeper understanding of my role in treating God’s creation with care and sensitivity. I should recycle. I should not waste water. I should turn off the lights.

v Writing – Prose and Poetry – I couldn’t wait to read this section. Writing is my thing. My hidden art. Unfortunately, I don’t have the time to sit and write the prose I have waiting in my head. I was reminded, however, that I can use this art in a variety of other ways: notes to friends and family, prayer by pen and paper, journals of thoughts and dreams.

      If I keep waiting for the perfect moment, with no interruptions, I’ll never write.

      I’ll never bless anyone else through writing.

v Environment – This was the final area that struck me.

By environment Edith Schaeffer does not mean “the environment”, but instead the effect we have on the people around us.

The atmosphere we create.

People often have little choice about the people surrounding them. If they sit next to a grumpy person on the plane for three hours, then for three hours they are living in a grumpy environment.  Alternatively, if they sit next to a friendly, polite person, they are living in a friendly, polite environment. 

It comes down to this: how I act impacts others.

“Our conversations, attitudes, behaviour, response or lack of response, hardness or compassion, our love or selfishness, joy or dullness, our demonstrated trust and faith or our continual despondency, our concern for others or our self pity – all these things make a difference to the people who have to live in our ‘environment’,”(pg 209).

I notice this very phenomenon in my own household. If my husband comes home from work grumpy, then very soon I’m grumpy too and vice versa. 

How we act rubs off on people. Hmmm.

Something to consider!

Two final thoughts...

1.     “Children growing up in an atmosphere where beauty is considered an important part of daily life cannot help being inspired to develop their own original ideas in these areas, nor can they help being prepared to live aesthetically themselves,” (pg 104). I noted in the margin of my book, “The opposite is also true.”

2.     “One needs to fight to prevent creativity being killed. Children are naturally creative, but it needs encouragement. They need to become aware that they were made in the image of the Creator, and are meant to be creative. They can begin to understand that there is a difference between the infinite (like God) and the finite (like man), so that they appreciated that they cannot do everything...” (pg 178).

      I have to say, one of the reasons our family does not own a video gaming system is for this very reason.

      Further, we have to fight against the need to excel at everything - especially with eldest child. He is reluctant to do things he knows he's not good at, and we need to get him out of this mode or else he will miss out on so much in life. No one is good at everything.

So many take home messages in this book!