The Lifegiving Home Book Club (Week #6)
Hello, Friend
The instant association of beauty and home is of something peripheral and perfect: a Martha Stewart home, models with coiffed hair and spotless clothes, showpiece weddings, even the more natural, but no less approachable, beauty of epic landscapes and exotic locales.
But beauty in home life, beauty on the level of the kitchen tables, a child's bedroom, the back porch, is something at which we often stumble. What we miss in these surface images is an understanding of beauty not as a veneer we apply to the surface of our lives or an ideal only to be attained by the extraordinary, bust at the tangible, daily outgrowth of the spiritual values we hold most deeply. We miss, in other words, the reality of the incarnation, the truth that god created the physical world to house and express the spiritual.
When I speak of beauty in this section of the book club, I don't mean the ideal. I mean the real loveliness lurking in the corners of the ordinary: a bowl of apples, a child's face, a Mason jar of wildflowers. I mean the breathtaking loveliness that comes when ordinary moments are filled and formed by hospitality, ritual, and relationship: dinner by candlelight, heart-to-hearts over hot chocolate, a shared autumn walk, a sick day in which real love is made tangible in the ginger ale and chicken soup and a child's favorite quilt.
On the level of home life, beauty is the order and grace we bring to the waiting hours and spaces of our lives, the celebrations we choose, the rituals we make, the gardens we plant, and the care we give with as much attention as we can muster. Such beauty speaks of our belief in a God of the details, a God aware of each sparrow, each tear, each heart. Our creativity affirms His care and presence in every aspect of our lives. Such beauty is also a shelter; it makes home of the primary places where we can step back from the impersonal, deadening craze of life in order to encounter the life of God in the midst of a fallen world.
The atmosphere thus created by color, creativity, and celebration makes not House Beautiful but home beloved, where every aspect of home communicates life, color, love, order, excellence, and hope. Despite, and even in, the usual round of dishes and laundry, flowers or a well-set table affirm home as a place apart from the whirlwind, a place where God's goodness is tasted and known.
Your Reading Assignment
This week, you and I are going to read the chapter March (The Art of the Ordinary, p. 79) and June (Times of Delight, p.133) in The Lifegiving Home.
More from Life With Sally
After you read this week's reading assignment, hop over to the Life With Sally Forum (button below) to join the discussion for our book club! Here is what we will be thinking, discussing, and pondering over on the forum:
On page 88, Sarah discusses how to cultivate beauty through the artwork displayed in your home. Check out art books from the library spanning multiple genres (modern, impressionist, renaissance, etc.) and see what speaks to you and your individual family. You can download high-quality, print-ready art prints of many famous paintings at useum.org and print them fairly cheaply at a local drugstore. You can also find many beautiful pieces of artwork at secondhand and thrift stores!
On pages 138-148, I list multiple ways our family incorporates play and delight into our home, including time in nature, building, puzzles, make-believe, game nights, traveling, and seeing musicals and various performances. Set an upcoming date on the calendar for something your family enjoys: a cozy night in with hot chocolate and a puzzle, a raucous and lively game night with nearby neighbors or friends, or taking in a local musical or theatrical performance.
On page 142, I discuss how we found our community was full of places where children and parents alike can have fun outdoors, from parks and nature centers to botanical gardens and zoos. Since it's still summer, make it a point to picnic at a new-to-you park, discover a new zoo, or take a trek through a nearby garden to see the beauty surrounding you in your backyard.