when, then, and so stick out to me. This sensitivity to the small words has been going on for a couple of years. One of these little words hit me in a new way this past weekend.
A loved one of mine is struggling with being content at home. As
she shared with friends her dilemma, she was given their counsel. In short they told her, “If you are not happy at home, you should go more.”
Go more?!
I think the concept is to keep busy so there is no opportunity
for boredom or conflict to arise. In short, they are saying that if you keep busy enough these “stay at home” years will fly by and before you know it you will have made it through.
Yet, one of those little words I was speaking of hit me as a conflict with this thought process. The verse is Titus 2: 5 “keepers at home”. See that? Often I think we translate this verse in our minds to say, “keepers of the home”, but that is not what it says. It very clearly says with a small word, “at” home.
“Keepers” translates “guards” from the Greek. I am not a Greek
whiz but I looked this up and that is what the concordance told me. To me it is hard to “guard” something you are not “at”.
The concept of going more is not what this verse is promoting. This verse is telling women to be keepers at home, and in order to fulfill this verse we need to be home.
Here is an example from the March-April No Greater Joy magazine. I am going to only take a few lines, to read the whole letter go to: www.nogreaterjoy.org
“I’ve tried to simplify my life and cut back in so many different ways. I try to remember that I don’t have to keep up with the Joneses or really care what the Joneses think of us for cutting back and keeping things simple. … I love my boys now and really enjoy hanging out with them…not the case up until recently….I am one happy Chiquita lately. I think I have far, far fewer friends than before because of all the time I’ve spent with my family this past
year, but I don’t care—I am happy.”
God’s way works!