Skip to main content

Leisure and home life


    Abbotskerswell, Devon, England.  

Leisure

What is this life, if full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.
No time to stand beneath the boughs
And stare as long as sheep or cows.
No time to see, in broad daylight,
Streams full of stars, like stars at night.
No time to turn at Beauty; glance,
And watch her feet, how they can dance.
No time to wait till her mouth can
Enrich that smile her eyes began.
A poor life this if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.

                                                -W.H Davies 

I read this poem in a wonderful book called "For the Family's Sake" by Susan Schaeffer Macaulay. It is about the value of home in everyone's life. I will share a few excerpts from the book below. 



    My little sister Lydia and I  
     Sarah, Lydia, Anna and I in Abilene, KS. We went there recently for a family reunion.



    In my mum's homeland, the lovely village of Abbotskerswell, in Devon, England. 
It is hard to write about home without either sounding pessimistic or too rosily romantic. There are always elements of both! "Good-enough homes" can be and are built by perfectly ordinary, everyday people. It is not a project for the exceptional. Home is the base for all of us- with our actual strengths and weaknesses. 
     The stability and sense of community a home gives is necessary not only for a child's well-being but also for persons of any age. Home is the comfortable base where we all belong. Because of its healing and nurturing quality, we can be creative without getting confused by unconnected changes leading to fragmentation. In fact, a sense of belonging and a home that is real actually enables the constructive change of personal growth and creative projects. 

 (page 54. chapter 4. "For the Family's Sake." By Susan Schaeffer Macaulay)
      On my dad's side of the family, a bedroom in the farmhouse in Abilene, KS. It has been in the family for 5 generations! I am part of the 6th generation to have stayed there. 
Homes absorb immense amounts of time and energy. This effort is satisfying if one has a balanced schedule and can cover the essentials without too much stress. Essentials include the extras to the everyday round that is part of human life- the celebrations, reunions, disappointments, depressions, sicknesses, disasters.  Homes work best when someone is the contented keeper of the home life. Homemaker is a good description. It really is worth giving full attention to this vital fact.

 (page 66. chapter 4. "For the Family's Sake." By Susan Schaeffer Macaulay)



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Photos from England

Stonehenge My dad and I went along with a tour group from the US to learn more about the history of Operation Tiger. We got to meet two American veterans who also came to England. I learned the history of Operation Tiger which I had not been aware of before. This year is the 70th Anniversary of Operation Tiger. They had a big ceremony at Slapton Sands near a tank that was recovered after the war. Exercise Tiger , or  Operation Tiger , was the code name for one in a series of large-scale rehearsals for the  D-Day  invasion of  Normandy , which took place on  Slapton Sands  or Slapton Beach in  Devon . (In late 1943) Coordination and communication problems resulted in  friendly fire  deaths during the exercise, and an Allied convoy positioning itself for the landing was attacked by  E-boats  of the German  Kriegsmarine , resulting in the deaths of 946  American   servicemen. [1] [2] [3]  The incident was under the strictest secrecy at the time due to the impending invasion,
5 comments
Read more

My little sis :-)

6 comments
Read more

The Best [poem]

Christ wants the best. He in the far-off ages Once claimed the firstling of the flock, the                 finest of the wheat, And still He asks His own with with gentlest pleading To lay their highest hopes and and brightest                  talents at His feet. He'll not forget the feeblest service,                humblest love; He only asks that of our store we give to Him                The best we have. Christ gives the best. He takes the hearts we offer; And fills them with His glorious beauty,                joy and peace; And in His service as we're growing stronger, The calls to great achievements still increase. The richest gifts for us on earth, or in                 the heavens above, Are hid in Christ. In Jesus we receive                  The best we have. And is our best too much? O friend, let us                 remember  How once our Lord poured out His soul for us, And in the prime of Hi
4 comments
Read more