Homemaking Monday's In May: The Theology Of HomemakingA Four Part Formation Series - Part Three: The Hidden Cost Of A Quiet Life

 Homemaking carries a quiet cost.

Not in a heavy or regretful way, but in a real, honest one.

Because choosing a life centered around the home often means choosing things that don’t always feel easy to name.

Choosing to not always be seen, to not always be affirmed, to not always have something measurable to point to at the end of the day. 

And sometimes, if you’re honest, there is a tension there.

A wondering, a subtle ache to be recognized, to know that what you’re doing matters beyond the walls you’re inside of. And I don’t think that feeling is something to rush past or dismiss.

But I do think it’s something to gently bring before the Lord. Because He never asked us to live for recognition, He asked us to live before Him.

“Your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” 

- MATTHEW 6:4

There is a kind of life that is built mostly in the unseen, and it requires a different kind of surrender.

A surrender of being known in the ways the world measures it.
A surrender of being noticed for what you carry.
A surrender of needing proof that it matters.

And yet…nothing done with Him, for Him, or through Him is ever lost, even when it is never named out loud by anyone else.

It is still seen.
It is still held.
It is still forming something eternal in you.

If this idea of the “hidden life” resonates with you, these books sit beautifully with this week’s reflection:

Every Moment Holy — Douglas Kaine McKelvey
A collection of liturgies that help you see ordinary moments as sacred ground.

Garden City — John Mark Comer
A thoughtful look at calling, work, and what it means to live faithfully in your actual life.

To Hell with the Hustle — Jefferson Bethke
A gentle pushback against constant striving and the pressure to be seen as productive.

Sacred Rhythms — Ruth Haley Barton
A deeper invitation into spiritual practices that form a steady, anchored soul.

They don’t rush the tension away.

They help you sit with it… and slowly see it differently.

❊

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Recipes From Grandma's Kitchen- A Popular Recipe - Potato Salad

My mom was a good cook in her own right, but after I got married and started cooking for my own family, there was one dish that from thereon she always asked me to make, potato salad.

To be honest, I'm not really sure what it was that she felt made mine so much better, she just said that mine tasted better, and I guess she was on to something, because over the years it has become my most requested dish for pot lucks and parties.  I've even catered a few meals for friends, and it always makes the list of requested dishes.

With the summer season coming up, I'm sure a lot of us will be grilling and potato salad is one of those dishes that always seems to be a good fit, whether you're cooking up burgers or chicken, it's the perfect side dish! So today I thought I'd pass along my take on this classic dish. I hope you'll enjoy it!

❊ KIM'S POTATO SALAD

3 lbs yukon gold potatoes

1 teaspoon salt

3/4 to 1 cup Hellman's Mayonnaise

2 teaspoons yellow mustard

4-6 sweet pickles, diced small

1/2 small onion, chopped small

2 teaspoons sugar

Salt and pepper to taste

Smoked paprika to preference

Serves 10-12

Wash, peel and chop you potatoes into cubes. Briefly rinse the potatoes in cold water to remove excess starch. Place potatoes in a large pot, cover with water.  Add 1 teaspoon of salt to the water. Boil until tender. Drain with cool water then place in the refrigerator to cool. This helps them hold their shape and not become mashed potatoes.

Once cooled add mayo, mustard, sweet pickles and onions. Gently mix everything together until the potatoes are well coated and everything is combined.  Add sugar, salt and pepper and stir gently again. Adjust seasoning as desired.  To finish lightly dust the top with smoked paprika.

❊

Homemaking Monday's In May: The Theology of Homemaking:A Four Part Formation Series - Week Two: Formation Through Repetition

There are days when the repetition of homemaking feels almost unbearable.

You wash the dishes, and by evening the sink is full again.

You fold the laundry, and tomorrow there will be another pile waiting.

You sweep the floor, wipe the counters, make the meals, straighten the rooms—and sometimes it can all begin to feel like a cycle that never truly ends.

And if we’re honest, I think part of what frustrates us is that we long for completion.

We want progress we can measure.

We want visible results.

We want something we can point to and say, “There. I finished it.”

But so much of homemaking refuses to stay finished, and maybe that is why it forms us so deeply.

Because Scripture is full of rhythms that required daily dependence.

Daily manna.
Daily bread.
Daily surrender.

When God provided manna in the wilderness, He did not give His people enough for months at a time. He gave them enough for that day.

Enough to teach them trust.
Enough to teach them reliance.
Enough to teach them to return to Him again tomorrow.

I think homemaking carries a similar invitation. Not just to complete tasks, but to become faithful in the returning.

Returning to serve.
Returning to nurture.
Returning to tend what has been entrusted to you—even when it feels repetitive.

And over time, something quiet begins to happen in us.

The repetition exposes our impatience.

It reveals our resistance.

But it also slowly builds endurance, steadiness, and faithfulness in places that comfort never could.

“Let us not grow weary of doing good, 
for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.” 

- GALATIANS 6:9

I don’t think spiritual discipline is formed only in prayer closets and Bible studies.Sometimes it is formed while standing at the kitchen sink again.While making another meal. While tending an ordinary life with consistency when no one is applauding you for it.

And maybe the repetition you want to escape is the very place God is building your faithfulness.

If you’d like to explore this topic more deeply, these books pair beautifully with this week’s reflection:

Liturgy of the Ordinary

The Common Rule

Habits of the Household

Domestic Monastery

Each one offers a gentler way of seeing the rhythms, repetitions, and sacred routines of everyday life.

❊

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Homemaking Monday's In May: The Theology of Homemaking:A Four Part Formation SeriesWeek One - Homemaking Is Not Small Work

I used to think homemaking felt small because it was small.

Small tasks.
Small moments.
Small, ordinary days that seemed to blur together.

But I’ve been slowly realizing, it isn’t small, it’s just hidden.

The world has trained us to measure significance by what can be seen, applauded, or scaled. But the Kingdom of God has always worked differently.

Jesus spent thirty years in obscurity before anyone called His name.

Most of what God does in a life happens where no one else is looking.And somehow, that includes this life too.

The folding.
The wiping.
The returning things back to order over and over again.

None of it feels like it’s “moving anything forward.”

But Scripture quietly tells a different story:

“What you do matters—not because it is seen, 
but because it is done unto Him.” 

- COLOSSIONS 3:23–24

There is nothing insignificant about faithfulness.

Nothing wasted about a life poured out in quiet obedience.

Maybe the problem isn’t that homemaking is small…maybe it’s that we’ve only learned how to recognize what is loud. And this life—this home—it speaks in a much quieter way.

But God hears it.

Every single part of it.

And maybe this is where the shift begins.

Not in changing what you’re doing…but in learning to see it differently.

Because if this work isn’t small, if it actually holds weight in the Kingdom—then the question becomes:

What is God doing in you through it?

What is being shaped in the quiet repetition of your days?

I’m starting to realize…

the hiddenness isn’t just about where this work happens.It’s about what it’s producing.

And that changes everything.

(We’ll talk about that next.)

If you’d like to explore this more deeply, these are a few books that have quietly shaped how I see this life:

The Hidden Art of Homemaking
this one reframes creativity and beauty inside the home in a way that feels both freeing and grounding.

Liturgy of the Ordinary
it helped me see how God meets us in the most repetitive, everyday moments.

The Life We’re Looking For
this one gently pulls your attention back to presence, especially in a distracted world.

Adorned
a reminder that the way we live inside our homes carries a kind of quiet, discipling influence.

None of them are loud.

But all of them will gently change how you see what you’re already doing.

❊

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