The Greek word translated “keepers at home” is oikourous. This word is derived from two Greek words. The first, oikos, means a house, a dwelling, or, by metonymy, a household or family. The second, ouros, refers to a keeper, watcher or guardian, i.e., one who has the oversight and responsibility for something. This signifies the role of that of a housekeeper. Someone who is responsible for the well being of the home and everyone in it.
As women we wear many, many hats, but one of the single most important roles of a woman is that of the keeper of the house whether you are single or married, your responsibility first is the home. That means making sure meals are cooked, the house is clean, the children are taken care of, etc. This does not mean that we cannot hold jobs outside of the home. We know this from the Proverbs 31 woman. What it does mean is that our first priority is that of the keeper of the house. Everything else is secondary and cannot interfere with that.
I'm sure you are thinking this too sounds old fashioned, but let's take a deeper look. Our children today are basically caring for themselves and they are completely out of control because there is no one home to raise and teach them. I can remember my grandmother going to work and she would be home with our snacks (no oreos and chips, but good ole fashion country snacks: fried green tomatoes, cornbread and buttermilk, PB & J sandwiches), made when we got out of school. She prepared breakfast EVERY morning and dinner EVERY night. Although she worked, that house was priority. The same thing for my mother. I had breakfast every morning before school and dinner every night. The house was always clean, my basic needs were always met, and she worked and went to school. With fast food and quick fixes to virtually everything, we have become what my husband calls, "Store Bought Women". He says we can't do anything from scratch. We are always complaining about this that and the other. I realize that our ancestors worked in the field in the hot sun for little of nothing and still went home and prepared meals for their families (ususally consisting of double digit children) with love and we are in air conditioned rooms with every comfort we can imagine, and have to stop at Piccadilly to pick up dinner because we are "too tired". Please know that I am just as guilty as the next person! We don't give ourselves enough credit for the power we have!
It is perfectly fine for the husband to take on some of the responsibilities of the house. It is not written anywhere that they cannot do these things, but it is not their ultimate responsibilty. Their role is to provide and protect. Our role is to be keeper's of the house, but we can help one another out in our respective places, but if they don't do things around the house it falls back on us. Just like we can contribute to the finances, but it does not fall back on us to take care of the finances. I know that we are focused on the role of the wife, but we do have single women here so I do want to address that you all are phenemonal and even some married women because you carry the weight of both the husband and the wife which makes your job especially challenging, but please remember you can do all things through Christ!
No comments:
Post a Comment