The Heart of Simplicity: Foundations for Christian Homemaking

by Natalie Klejwa, Heidi St. John, Richele McFarlin

Today’s typical lifestyle is marked by busyness, stress, and anxiety. Today’s Christian homemaker too often complains that there’s not enough time to do it all, and they start to drown under the pressure of their overwhelming and never-ending to do lists.

It can be easy to rush through the day in a constant effort to stay on top of everything that must be done. We have the demands of our homes that need attention; our children, who need love, training, and discipling; and, most importantly, we have our husbands, who need our attention, affection, and our help in building homes that glorify the Lord.

With all of our modern conveniences and time savers, you would think we wouldn’t struggle to fit into out day what needs to be done, but we seem to be more pressed for time than ever before. It is so easy to feel overwhelmed when it seems what is demanded of us is more than what we can give. You may feel like you’re drowning in dishes and laundry. Maybe you’re losing the battle with winning your children’s hearts to the Lord, or maybe you’ve given up on keeping up and have fallen behind on maintaining your home or paying your bills. Your marriage may be suffering under all of these demands. Maybe you’re barely keeping your head above water.

I don’t believe our problem is a lack of time. The Lord has given us ample time to do His work. The struggle we face is in determining kingdom work from all the extra that can fill up our schedules. In our hurried, busy lives as wives and mothers, it can be easy to rush through our days, checking off our to-do lists as we accomplish the tangible. But while much of that is important, it’s the eternal, the intangible, that matters most. This is why we’re here. This is why we get out of bed every morning and go strong until our head hits that pillow at the end of the day. As keepers of our homes, we have a unique opportunity to make a generational impact, both within and outside the walls of our homes.

Genres: Faith, Nonfiction

344 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 6, 2013

Reviews

[Zoe Franklin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this with a sense of trepidation but was pleasantly surprise. There were no lightbulb moments but plenty of strong encouragement with biblical reference for living in a way that honours and points to God. I admit I skipped over the homeschooling section as that's never going to happen in our household and there were points where I read what was being said but just thought this isn't for me - particularly when it came to more traditional views of women. I would still recommend to mothers who want to hone their skills and be encouraged.

[Debra · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a difficult book to rate. There are 13 chapters with 13 different authors. Each author brings their own flavor to the book. I was kind of disappointed with the book because it read like a blog post, and most of the chapters only gave partial information and then linked you to their blog or recommended buying their book. When I purchase a book to read, I want the info in that book. I don't want to have to chase down the info all over the internet or buy another book. I found that very frustrating.

I really enjoyed reading chapters 1, 2, 9 and 13. I got a lot out of those chapters without feeling like I had to go somewhere else. The rest of the chapters were just ok.

Being that this is a Kindle book, I wanted to point out a couple of problems I found with the format. For one thing, you could not "go to" the table of contents. That made it very difficult to navigate. Plus, they added the author to the end of each chapter. I like to know who is writing a chapter before I read it.

[Christabelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dorothy Sayers wrote: "The vital power of an imaginative work demands a diversity within its unity; and the stronger the diversity the more massive the unity." If this is true of an imaginative work, how much more so in a creative work of nonfiction? This eBook is a compilation of several bloggers as they tackle different areas of Christian homemaking. I feel its strength lies it its single-eyed vision to love God and honor people through the art of home keeping. While not all the chapters necessarily applied to this stage of life, the encouragement to "get back to basics" was a well needed boost! I'm sure other homemakers will feel the same.

[Lee Nienhuis · Rating 3 out of 5]

A neat collections of chapters by different authors on the heart of "Home." The chapter by Ann Dunagan is worth reading the book.

[Missy A Staggers]

Great!

Lots of good, biblical and practical advice in this book. These ladies really did an excellent job. Spoke to my heart on several issues.