My challenge as a homemaker is to limit our posessions to what is necessary for living well, so that excess stuff will not consume our thoughts, time, space, and efforts.  My challenge to have less will make my home appealing, beautiful, functional and a place of quiet rest for my family. 

I wrote the above on a tiny notebook with a hot pink pen while I was sitting amidst piles of clutter that had gathered in my never-used dining room.  Why do we let our homes become havens for junk instead of havens for our hearts?  I didn't realize what an impact excess stuff had on me until I realized my frazzled state of mind was due to my frazzled state of house.  Or is the other way around?

When we have to step over piles of junk, when there is no tidy spot for our eyes or bodies to rest upon, then our home is not a haven of quiet rest, but a hell of chaos mess.  We shouldn't expect our precious husbands to live that way, and we shouldn't teach our children that it is an acceptable way to live.  It is our challenge, the homemaker's challenge, to have less and to create rest in our homes.