Maiden Writing Contest--Lourdes

by Lourdes Torres, age 18

Why I Desire to Learn How to be a Keeper at Home

As a girl, I watched my mother play the part of housewife with all that she had. This has certainly been a blessed motivation and inspiration to me personally. Slowly the winds of the world turned the vein of my heart around. My plans for the future were on the feministic side. Thankfully, at the age of fifteen, my Heavenly Father surrounded me with women who were diligently learning from God's Word their Biblical role as keeper of the home. Their witness had an infectious effect on my life. Since, my passion has been to become the women described in Proverbs thirty-one; a godly, virtuous woman who loves her home.

Now my days are filled with applying the many skills a homemaker continues though her life. I enjoy designing and sewing clothing and other useful items with a passion. At least once a day I prepare a meal. When I learn to embellish a recipe to my family's liking and present it creatively, there is a true sense of accomplishment. Information on health and nutrition are on my list of subjects to study often. Keeping my father's dwelling pleasantly clean and decorated gives me practice for my abode-to-be. I am learning daily to be the source of our home along side my mother as I seek Christ in His Word. This is what drives me to learn and love everything God asks me to do as a woman.

Reading books that edify, encourage, and relate to women living their Biblical roles renews my zeal. The Hospitality Commands, by Alexander Strauch, has unlocked the home of my heart to joyously welcome and relish the beautiful command of caring for others in my home. Not only hosting a meal but also sharing with them the home that is truly lent to me by the Lord. This volume really shed light on the great commandment Christ gave us--"love one another as I have loved you" (John 13:34-35). Thus far I have not read a little book more packed with meditated and specific direction, covering every subject a young woman who craves to be a diligent governess of her home needs, as Amber Moeller expresses in More than a Hopechest. I was made to think, by this bound work, over what I have set as goals for myself for the coming years. The novel, Mother, blessed my soul and increased my appreciation for the dearest woman in my life--my mother! My anticipation of bearing this title has been strengthened by this precious publication.

My mind often drifts away to the future where I find myself in a cozy home. Standing at the kitchen counter stirring cake batter with one hand, and holding a chubby set of fingers trying to scoop a little of the sweetness from the bowl in the other. At the same time my husband is kissing my warm, flushed cheeks as he enters the kitchen door from a full day of work. All the children are clinging to his arms and legs like leeches. Behind me a table is set for a number of eager mouths. A fork is missing from a place setting and a plate from another giving away the setter as a little one. The whole picture gives me an inexpressible rapture that only a woman who practices God's plan can possess as she keeps her beloved home.

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