The Purpose of Knowledge (and This Blog)

"The greatest error of all the rest is the mistaking or misplacing of the last or farthest end of knowledge: for men have entered into a desire of learning and knowledge, sometimes upon a natural curiosity and inquisitive appetite; sometimes to entertain their minds with variety and delight; sometimes for ornament and reputation; and sometimes to enable them to victory of wit and contradiction; and most times for lucre and profession; and seldom sincerely to give a true account of their gift of reason, to the benefit and use of men: as if there were sought in knowledge a couch whereupon to rest a searching and restless spirit; or a tarrasse, for a wandering and variable mind to walk up and down with a fair prospect; or a tower of state, for a proud mind to raise itself upon; or a fort or commanding ground, for strife and contention; or a shop, for profit or sale; and not a rich storehouse, for the glory of the Creator and the relief of man's estate." ~Francis Bacon

This quote is a little long and cumbersome to read, but please, even if you're like me and often skim over long quotes, read it.  Diagram it if you need to.  It's important.

This basically summarizes my philosophy on life.

(Warning: This post will be fairly rambly.  I have so many thoughts about this idea and it's hard to organize them in a way that is easily put on paper.)

Why should we strive after knowledge?  "For the glory of the Creator and the relief of man's estate."

How does this apply to me?  My main calling in life is to be a homemaker.  I have other jobs where I actually earn money, and they do take up a significant amount of my time, but I consider those to be of secondary importance.  Consider what a homemaker does: cooking, laundry, cleaning, errands, and general upkeep of the house.  These are very practical ways to help relieve man's estate, which in its natural form is not good, and if you want to do a good job you have to study quite a bit and learn about a wide variety of things.

(Have you ever worried that you might get some sort of wasting disease from sitting on someone's couch?  That is the natural state -- just think about what happens if nobody did any housework for a week.  It's not a pretty picture.  That kind of feeling is what homemakers typically try to avoid.)

It's important to glorify God.  One of the most common opportunities we have to glorify God is when we choose to obey him!   Please note that God gives very few homemaking tips in the Bible, aside from in the Old Testament law, which I believe we are not called to follow anymore.  This means that to glorify God in my homemaking, I have to follow the spirit of the law.  Homemaking's primary function is not to create perfectly clean houses that smell like fresh baked cookies.  Its primary function is to create a place where we can grow closer to God and to each other.  The best way to do that is to study the Bible and apply what it teaches us.

It's also important to relieve man's estate.  In fact, it's not just important, it's commanded in the Bible.  Really, there are too many verses to count.  Just think about all the times the Bible says to "love one another" and to help people in any way that you can.  I'm pretty sure that all kids can use our help.  :)

In our family, we kind of follow traditional husband and wife roles.  My husband is the main breadwinner, and he works really hard at that.  I'm mostly in charge of the household and everything pertaining to it.  I say "kind of follow" because my husband does some housework (anything related to the toilet, trash, and household repairs, and he also sweeps the floors regularly), and I work part-time.  I tell you this because my taking care of the house definitely relieves my husband's estate, which I got to see before we got married and trust me, it was not pleasant at all.

So all that to say... it's not about your methods for keeping house and caring for your family.  It's about why you keep house and care for your family.