Where's My Apron

What would I do without my aprons? They are an indispensable part of my homemaking equipment and I have a pile sitting in my pantry.

I use them to protect my clothes

Without aprons my clothes would be ruined. I have never been very good at working in good clothes. I have a dear friend who can paint in her high heels and Sunday clothes and not get a drop of paint on her. I am sure she is just as good in her kitchen. Not me. When I paint, I have paint all over me. When I work, I get stuck in, and invariably get dirty marks on my clothes. I don’t like to go around like a rag bag and therefore need an apron to cover me when working in the kitchen.

I have working aprons and pretty frilly aprons for special occasions although I rarely use my pretty aprons. They are part of my working tools.

When it is time for the meal, I take off my apron to sit at the table. If we have visitors coming, I throw it off as I hear their car coming in the drive. Now all my guests know my secret!

I use them to wipe my hands

I keep a towel hanging in my kitchen to wipe my hands. However, I find it much easier to wipe them on my apron. It is right on me and I don’t have to walk a step to do it. Consequently, my aprons become stained and dirty, but isn’t that what they are for!

For awhile I got into the habit of throwing my tea-towel over my shoulder on which I could wipe my hands as necessary while preparing food etc. One time I had to urgently pop down to Office Max to do some photocopying. I wondered why so many people looked very interestingly at me. I thought I must have looked very special that day until I got home and looked in the mirror. There was my dirty tea-towel draping across my shoulder!

I use them as a basket

Aprons are wonderfully convenient to go out to the garden to gather my harvest for supper--zucchini, cucumbers, squash, basil, tomatoes, lettuce, etc. All I have to do is lift up the bottom of my apron and I have a perfect basket to carry them inside. When gathering “things” that have accumulated upstairs and need to be taken down, once again, all I have to do is lift my apron to carry them all down. And if your apron has a pocket or two, they are even more versatile.

It is my symbol as Manager of my home

I do not put on my apron to sit around the house. I put on my apron to work. Although all our children have grown and have now established their own homes, we still currently have many others living with us living in the home and often extras beside that for the evening meal. I have great work to do. It is not insignificant. And when I put on my apron I am aware I am accomplishing good things.

There are young wives today who do not even own an apron. They are missing an important part of the baton that should have been passed on to them. Of course, you don’t need an apron when you don’t work in the home. You don’t need an apron to pop a microwave dinner in the microwave, get pre-packaged food out of the freezer, or open some tins of something for supper. However, when you prepare food from scratch as I do, you need an apron.

Aprons are symbolic of hearth and home. Sandy Driver writes: “The symbol of homemaking most vividly emblazoned in my memory is bright yellow with four large black and white polka dot pockets lining the front. Mother made it from scraps early in her domestic career to hold lots of wooden clothespins. She called it her "hanging out clothes apron" and never dared cook a meal with it on.

"It's too ragged," she said with a discerning look. I would have gladly worn it all day long because it smelled like sunshine and felt like home. When I wrapped those strings around my waist, I was a Mommy, which was every little girl's dream in that long ago era. I loved to fill the empty pockets with crayons, rubber balls and little metal jacks while our sheets and socks blew in the afternoon breeze.

“When my aunt Mamie died a few years back, I added one of her green flowered aprons to my nostalgic collection. It was my daughter's favorite when she was a toddler and she insisted on wearing it whenever she played with her assortment of dolls, even though the big wide strings wrapped around her tiny body three times. "I have to wear an apron to be the Mommy," she proclaimed. I have taught her well.”

A lady named Maggie writes: “I wear my aprons every day now I have come to believe they are like lacy bits of lingerie, only worn on the outside, and quite a bit more respectable. When I put on my aprons the children mind me better, wandering visitors immediately know my role as a stay at home mom. Fred thinks I look cute as a button, and neighbor children hug me more often.

“I like my aprons. They have changed my life, raising my standards, inspiring me to greater feats of home making skills, and making me more effective as a parent. Whoever thought that a dollar’s worth of fabric and lace could effect so many changes on one woman and one family?”

Terry Leib writes:“Woven into the cloth of an apron are unseen threads of a sweet feminine spirit, a spirit of meekness, humility and contentment. That little flap of frilly, feminine fabric tied around a woman’s waist symbolized her acceptance of her role and duties. It was her badge of honor, and represented submission to God, and to her husband. Without saying one word, or one syllable, it shouted, “I am a woman, made from a man. My place is at home, guiding the house, loving my husband, loving my children, teaching my children to love, honor and obey God by my example in obeying God’s Word and my own husband.” Its strings gently tug at us, tenderly, softly calling us to turn back to the old ways, the Biblical ways of order in the home.”

At the turn of the century, children could identify the days of the weeks by the different apron their mother wore each day. I have aprons that tie at the waist and barbecue style aprons, but one of my favorites was given to me by a lady who attended an Above Rubies Retreat. It is one that completely covers my clothes. I think she made it from Simplicity Pattern #3064 B.

Apart from putting on my material apron, I am challenged to put on the attitude apron. 1 Peter 5:5 Williams says, “You must all put on the servant’s apron of humility to one another, because God opposes the haughty but bestows His unmerited favor on the humble.” The apron is an emblem of servanthood. It’s good to not only put on our apron, ready to work hard in the home, but to have the same attitude in our hearts. When we wear the servant’s apron of humility, no task will seem too menial or too difficult to accomplish.

NANCY CAMPBELL
Reprinted from Above Rubies # 65. Above Rubies is a magazine to bring strength and encouragement to marriage, motherhood and family life.
www.aboverubies.org

GRANDMA’S APRON

The principle use of Grandma’s apron was to protect the dress underneath, but along with that, it served as a holder for removing hot pans from the oven. It was wonderful for drying children’s tears, and, on occasion, was even used for cleaning out dirty ears.

From the chicken coop the apron was used for carrying eggs, fussy chicks, and sometimes half-hatched eggs to be finished in the warming oven. When company came those aprons were ideal hiding places for shy children. And when the weather was cold, Grandma wrapped it around her arms. Those big old aprons wiped many a perspiring brow, bent over the hot wood stove. Chips and kindling wood were brought into the kitchen in that apron.

From the garden, it carried all sorts of vegetables. After the peas had been shelled, it carried out the hulls. In the fall the apron was used to bring in apples that had fallen from the trees. When unexpected company drove up the road, it was surprising how much furniture that old apron could dust in a matter of seconds. When dinner was ready, Grandma walked out onto the porch, waved her apron, and the men knew it was time to come in from the fields to dinner.

It will be a long time before someone invents something that will replace that “old-time apron” that served so many purposes.

Called To Queenhood!

“Come to me, my bride, my queen you shall be”
(Song of Songs 4:8 Knox).

There is a quality of queenliness in every woman. You innately desire it. Your husband desires it, and as king, he wants you to be his queen. We see it in our young daughters and granddaughters. They want to be princesses. They want to dress up as princesses when they play “dressing up” and are subconsciously practicing to be queens. They love to play “mommies and daddies” with their dolls and are intuitively preparing for motherhood. We don’t teach them to do this. They do it naturally… until their minds are re-programmed by the humanistic propaganda of our modern society.

Just as men should walk in kingliness, so we should walk in queenliness. And we have a queendom to reign over. Yes, there is such a word in the dictionary.* Unfortunately it has become a forgotten word as women have left the glory of their homes to pursue vain callings, careers that may seem glamorous and enticing now, but which will one day be left behind. On the other hand, mothering, embracing and training children, and reigning over a queendom will powerfully affect the nation, the generations to come and even more powerfully, eternity!

You may live in a 10,000 square foot home or you may live in a humble trailer. No matter how big and palatial, or how small and humble your home, you are still queen of your castle. Our daughter, Evangeline and her husband, live in a two-roomed cabin with their ten children. Is she groveling with self-pity and acting like a non-entity? No, she is queen of her domain. She lives like a queen. She thinks like a queen. She runs her home with amazing efficiency. There is no mess, no confusion, no extra ‘stuff’ and no complaining–only joy, fun, positivity and a family living in the presence of the Lord.

One of the meanings of “queen” in the dictionary is, “‘a woman who is eminent or supreme in a given domain.” That’s us, ladies! God has given us a domain to rule and reign over as queens. Where is this domain? It is not the realm of the corporate world. It is not ruling over our husbands. We are privileged to submit to our husband’s leadership, authority and protection. However, under his covering and protection, God has given us a sphere of rulership, a realm where we are to rule and reign! This realm is in our homes.

“Oh, how boring!” I hear you exclaim. Wait a minute. This is the very reason that many women have lost their queenliness today. They have been brainwashed into thinking that the home is a boring place, a place where they will lose their identity and amount to nothing. The very opposite is the truth. The home is where we find our identity. In the safety and sanctity of the home, we can flourish to our full beauty. We can give vent to our creativity. We can fulfill our management abilities.

The Old Testament calls us “the mistress of the house.” One Hebrew word for “mistress” is baalah, which is simply the feminine word for baal. It means “to be master, to have dominion over.” The other word for “mistress” in the Old Testament is the Hebrew word gbereth. It is the feminine word of “master,” which is gbiyr and means “to be strong, valiant, to prevail.”

It is not only men who want to have dominion. There is something in a woman that also wants to have dominion too. God created us this way. Immediately after God told Adam and Eve to “Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth,” He then said to them, “Subdue it, and have dominion…” These words were not only spoken to the man, but also to the woman.

God wants you to be the mistress, the queen--governing over the domestic affairs of your home. Your home is the center of your life. It is a place of challenge, creativity and celebration. You rule over your kitchen, making sure that your husband and family are daily nourished with life-giving meals. You preside over the educating of your children. You administrate the cleaning of your home. You direct the ideas, projects and plans on which you and your children are currently working.

You practice hospitality, planning when you will invite each particular family or lonely person to come and eat at your table. You think about what food you will prepare for them and how you can make them feel special. You work on assignments with your children for reaching out to the poor and needy. You are constantly making your home a creative, interesting and sacred place in which to live.

You plan, plant and work in your garden to feed your family and beautify your home. And above all, you are full-time nurturing, nourishing, loving and encouraging your husband and children. Oh your life is FULL! There is so much to reign over. You never seem to have enough time to fulfill all your great visions.

Of course, as queen of your home, you don’t do everything yourself, but train your children to take over in all these areas. And you may have many servants--your washing machine, dryer, dishwasher and all your electric kitchen gadgets. What a blessing.

But is this only an Old Testament truth? Let’s see what the New Testament has to say. 1 Timothy 5:14 says, “I will therefore that the younger women marry, bear children, guide the house, give none occasion to the adversary to speak reproachfully.” The phrase, “guide the house” is the Greek word oikodespoteo. It is a combination of two words: oikos meaning “home, household, family” and despotes meaning “master, or ruler.”

What does this mean? You are the ruler, the queen of your queendom. It does not mean that you manage your husband’s life. Your mandate is to manage and take dominion over the domestic affairs of your household and garden. God gives you the responsibility to manage your home and keep it in order.

Don’t look at all the other things that you could be doing outside your home. Instead, look to the things that need to be taken care of in your home today. There’s a lot to do. Is the laundry up-to-date? Are the dishes washed? Is your home running smoothly? Are you watching over the minds and hearts of your children? Are you watching in prayer?

I love the words of Rev. T. De  Witt Talmage, “Thank God, O woman, for the quietude of your home, and that you are queen in it. Men come at eventide to the home; but all day long you are there, beautifying it, sanctifying it, adorning it, blessing it… It may be a very humble home. There may be no carpet on the floor. There may be no pictures on the wall. There may be no silks in the wardrobe; but, by your faith in God, and your cheerful demeanor, you may garniture that place with more splendor than the upholsterer’s hand ever kindled.”

God wants His kingdom to spread throughout the earth. He wants His glory, His love, His truth, His peace and His salvation to touch all people. As we take dominion over our homes, as we make them sanctuaries for training godly children and palaces for God’s glory, we will see God’s kingdom spread.

Sadly, many women are bored with their home. They have not yet seen the vision that their home is their greatest sphere of influence for God. They do not have the vision for raising children for God. With no vision for hospitality and so little to rule over, they are unfulfilled and have to find their place of dominion somewhere else. Unfortunately, they move out of the sphere where God wants them to govern. They come out from under their husband’s protection and become vulnerable to other men instead of their own husband. As one writer commented, “Women end up submitting to many men in the corporate world because they refuse to submit to one man at home.” The result is an endemic of divorce and breakdown of marriage, even in the Christian world. Isn’t it sad that current statistics reveal that the emptiest place in America during the day is the home?

The Queen of England has a number of castles. The people know which one she is visiting or residing in when they see the flag flown at the top of the castle. Fly the flag at your royal home. Don’t vacate your queendom for a lesser career.

“But I don’t feel like a queen,” you answer. It is not a matter of feelings. It is who you are. Rise up to your status of queenship. Think like a queen and you will begin to act like a queen.  Walk like a queen. Speak like a queen--this will definitely make you feel more queenly. It will also change the atmosphere in your home. It will draw praises from your husband. What about dressing like a queen? You will rise to how you dress.

The more you live like a queen, the more honor you will give to your husband and the more he will be motivated to walk in his kingliness. Proverbs 12: 4 says that a virtuous woman is a crown to her husband. A crown is a symbol of royalty. A crown is beautiful, adorned with shining and valuable gems. As we take on our queenship, we will be a crown to our husbands.

NANCY CAMPBELL

Primm Springs, Tennessee, USA

* Thorndike-Barnhart Comprehensive Desk Dictionary, Edited by Clarence. L. Barnhart

Are You Being Robbed?

The emptiest places in America today are the homes! How sad that thousands of women are being robbed of the joy of their homes. Mothers have left their homes in droves because society tells them that it is a place of insignificance, a place where they will come to nothing. This is a lie. The home is meant to be the hub of society. It is meant to be where everything happens from birth to the grave. The home is a nurturing center, a birthing center, an education center, a worship center, a praise center, a cultural development center, a social center, an eating center, a hospitality center, a counseling center, a health center, an industry center, a convalescent center and a garden center! It is a place of life and joy.

Before God gives children to a mother, he first establishes her in a home. Psalm 113:9 MLB says, “He gives the barren wife a home to live in, now the joyous mother of children. Hallelujah!” God loves homes. God first created the man, but before He created the woman, He prepared the garden home for her. He knew that she couldn’t survive without a home. He created her to be a nester. The home is a God-appointed place. It is the place that He has chosen for mothers to raise children. Our society has provided a counterfeit in daycares but they are a poor substitute for the home.

I love the Jerusalem Bible translation of Psalm 113:9 which says, “He enthrones the barren woman in her house.” She doesn’t only exist in her home. She thrives in her home. She is enthroned as the queen.

God spoke through the prophet, “How beautiful are your tents, O Jacob; how lovely are your homes, O Israel!” (Numbers 24:5 NLT) God loved the homes of Israel. But He wasn’t just talking about their physical homes – they were just dark goat-skinned tents in the desert. He was talking about the quality of life inside their homes – the love, joy, peace, fellowship, fun, and unity. The Living Bible translates it, “Oh, the… joys in the homes of Jacob.”

God equates joy with home and parenting. And yet this is often the opposite in homes today. Not only are women being robbed of mothering in the home, but they are also being robbed of joy in their homes. God talks about “houses of joy”.  He speaks of  “the joyful mother.” He describes the “happy father of many children.” (Isaiah 32:13; Psalm 113:9;  127:4-5) Actually this word “happy” in Psalm 127 is a plural word and should actually be translated “How happy” or “Happy, Happy!” It is ultra happiness! Maybe the reason most parents are not experiencing this overflowing happiness is because they choose to limit the arrows to fill their quivers. We notice that the Scripture says that it is the “happy, happy” man who has his quiver full.

The devil is the one who comes to “rob, kill and destroy.” (John 10:10) He hates life and has successfully duped God’s people to limit their families and stop having children. In doing so, he has robbed joy from homes and parents and deprived the world of the godly seed that God wanted to fulfill His purposes. This is the devil’s greatest victory in this hour! I constantly receive emails and letters from grieving women -- women who have been robbed of children. They sterilized when they were younger and are now too old to have children. Or they are trying to find money for a reversal. Or they have had a reversal but still haven’t conceived. Does the devil care about their grieving hearts? No, he is gloating that he has stolen a few more of God’s children.

The devil has also robbed us of our rest. God wants us to live in His rest. He wants us to enjoy rest and peace in our homes. I read this beautiful Scripture recently, “And in their own home, says the Lord, I will give them rest.” (Hosea 12:9 Knox) God has ordained that we will find rest in our own home, not running around everywhere.

But the devil wants to rob us of rest also. He loves to stir up strife. He likes to get us so busy chasing the dollar, careers and materialism that we have no time to pray and meditate. We fill ourselves and our homes with stress and tension. God woos us into rest, but we often refuse, as did Israel. “For thus says the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel: in returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and confidence shall be your strength. But you would not!” (Isaiah 30:15)

It is time to wake up out of our sleep and become aware of what is being stolen from us. Jesus warned us in Matthew 24:43, “But know this, that if the master of the house had known at what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into.”

Let’s receive the gift of our home that God has given to us. Let’s guard our homes against the robbing, killing and destruction of the enemy of our souls.

NANCY CAMPBELL

HOME IS BEST

Stay, stay at home, my heart and rest;

Home-keeping hearts are happiest,

For those that wander they know not where

Are full of trouble and full of care;

To stay at home is best.

Weary and homesick and distressed,

They wander east, they wander west,

And are baffled and beaten and blown about

By the winds of the wilderness of doubt;

To stay at home is best.

Then stay at home, my heart, and rest;

The bird is safest in its nest,

Over all that flutter their wings and fly

A hawk is hovering in the sky;

To stay at home is best.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Are We Blaspheming?

There is only one passage in the Word of God that speaks personally to older women. It is a specific command that is given to them through the unction of the Holy Spirit. It is surprising to me that so few older women in the church bother to take any notice of these words. They live and act as though they are not mentioned in the Bible.

What is this command found in Titus 2:2-5? The Jerusalem Bible translations says, "The older women…they are to be teachers of the right behaviour and show (notice these words… "and show") the younger women HOW they should love their husbands and love their children, HOW they are to be sensible and chaste and HOW to work in their homes and be gentle and do as their husbands tell them…"

Not only are the older women to teach the younger women, but they are to show them by example HOW to be husband-lovers, children-lovers, and home-lovers. The Message Bible says, "By LOOKING AT THEM, the younger women will know how to love their husbands and children…"

This passage also relates to the younger women. Amongst the few older women who do take these words seriously, I often hear the comment that the younger women don’t want to listen to them. There is responsibility required on both sides. We as the older women are commanded to take up our calling to teach the younger women. The younger women are to walk in the footsteps and teaching of godly older women who are speaking the Word of God in truth – to be clean-minded, to love and submit to our husbands, to love our children, and to guard and keep the home.

Now if we think that this is all very unimportant and out-of-date, what will happen? The Bible tells us plainly. God’s Word will be blasphemed! Wow, that is strong language. The word ‘blaspheme’ means ‘to speak about God or sacred things with abuse or contempt.’ We bring contempt on God’s Word when we refuse to obey these words. To make it clearer, let’s see what some other translations say

We will blaspheme the Word of God. KJV

We will malign the Word of God. NIV

We will disgrace the Word of God. TJB

We will dishonor the Word of God. NAS

We will discredit the Word of God. RSV

We will bring reproach to the Word of God. Amp

We will slander the Word of God. MLB, Beck

It will be a scandal to the gospel. Moffat

These are powerful words, aren’t they? Don’t you think it is time that we lined ourselves up with what God says, rather than what society says? Who governs our lives anyway? Today's current thinking or God’s eternal Word that is for all generations? Psalm 33:11.

There is an another phenomenon that is popular today. In fact, it is considered the norm. But once again, it does not line up with God’s Word. It is the fact that in many homes there are two Adams, rather than an Adam and an Eve. When God made Eve for Adam, He didn’t make another Adam. He made someone different. He made a helper for him, someone to complete him, not compete with him.

The Hebrew word for ‘helpmeet’ is ‘neged’. It means, ‘part opposite, counterpart, over against, the other side.’ Eve completed Adam by being opposite to him. God gave her a different function. He planned for Adam (and all men to follow) to be a patriarch and pattern man for his family, to be a provider, a protector and a priest of his home. Perhaps we could even add – a promise-keeper. He created Eve (and all women to follow) to be a nurturer, a nourisher and a nest-builder. The marriage and the home functions best when each one fulfills the function God has planned for them. God didn’t plan for two Adams, but for an Adam and an Eve.

In fact, God has a special care for women and has designed that they will always be under protection of the man who is the provider. We see a further understanding of this in Numbers chapter 30. In this chapter it tells us that if a daughter makes a vow and her father hears it and says nothing by giving "silent consent", she is bound to fulfil her vow. However, if her father hears it and is not in agreement with her pledge or vow, he has the power to make it invalid.

Similarly, if a wife in her husband’s home makes a vow or a "thoughtless utterance" and her husband hears it and says nothing, her vow must stand. However, if her husband expresses disapproval, the Bible says that her husband "shall make void her vow which was on her, and the thoughtless utterance of her lips…and the Lord will forgive her." This passage reveals God’s heart for women and the authority God has given to man to protect women. Women are not meant to be out of covering for one day of their life.

While she is unmarried, a daughter is under the protection and guidance of her father, until the day that he says, "I do" and "gives" her to her husband. The father has a responsibility to know before God that the man that he "gives" his daughter to on the wedding day is the one that God has chosen for her, a man who will continue to provide, protect and care for her as he has done all his life.

The new bride now comes under her husband’s covering, and under this protection she can fulfil her highest calling of nurturing the children that God gives to the marriage. As she embraces her nurturing instinct, she becomes a nation builder and a nation shaper.

Dear wives and mothers, please understand my heart. I do not write this to condemn anyone but to re-focus our minds on God’s highest plan, rather than the mind-set of this society. It is not my idea. God says, "My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts." Isaiah 55:8,9. And remember His commandments are not burdensome or irksome. 1 John 5:3. God wrote them for our good and for our ultimate blessing.

I’d like to end this article on a positive note. The J.B. Phillip’s translation of Titus 2:5 says that if the younger women obey these commands to be clean-minded, to love and submit to their husbands, to love and embrace children, and to guard and keep the home, that it will be "a good advertisement for the Christian faith." What are we advertising?

What about single mothers, widows, and women who have no one to protect them? I suggest that you refer to the following scriptures for consideration: Genesis 38:11, Leviticus 22:13, and 1 Timothy 5:4-10.