Managing Your Household Time--The Halloween Problem

Today let us discuss an extremely practical theme for the minister's wife, in fact, for all workers' wives. Because women generally are housekeepers, our shepherdesses will be inter­ested in exchanging ideas about conserving time in the home. Unless the element of time is taken into account we may not be conscious that it is being wasted. As a result, self-improve­ment, and even a few hobbies, may be sacrificed, and life in the manse may become monotonous and uninteresting.

Homemaking is more individual than any other occupation. The homemaker works by herself and she could get into a rut. It would be impossible to suggest standard methods for ministers' wives; the size of the family is a de-terming factor. Again, the husband's habits and talents, and the wife's own skills, will vary in each home. It may take wise planning to find time to attend to church work outside of the home; but more is expected of a worker's wife than of a laywoman. This means that time will need to be found for essential ministerial duties.

It is important for any worker to develop time-consciousness. Some good managers divide the hours of the day into periods, segregating the day's tasks to fit into morning, afternoon, and evening hours, and making out a little schedule to pin up over the kitchen sink. If this obvious reminder does not tend to make the homemaker too time-conscious, it will be very helpful. Such a schedule should provide for extras or emergencies that need to be fitted into the daily routine, but common sense and some imagination and, later on, experience, will suggest ways of handling them.

A worker's wife has little time for just visiting —a pleasant pastime for less soul-burdened neighbors. However, this does not mean that neighborliness is unimportant, and there may be some purposeful visiting that is witnessing for righteousness. The worker's wife should be known in her community as a comforting big sister, one whose enriched background and sparkling personality provide helpful and worth-while ideas for better living and serving. Such contacts should be worked into the daily program without making the neighborly caller conscious of one's busy schedule. A nervous manner or an untactful inference may drive an approachable neighbor away. We should recog­nize the Spirit's leading in these calls, even though they may come at an inconvenient time. After your caller leaves you may need to hustle to get the noon meal ready for the family, but you will sense the joy of having done what your Master expects of ministers' wives. And your husband will be proud of you.

Keeping Physically Fit

Of course, you will want to be mentally cheer­ful and physically fit. It is the tired worker who becomes slow, inaccurate, and fretful. Here again it pays to become motion-conscious and to make every stroke count. When possible, a short nap in the middle of the day will help to keep you poised. The tension of any task lessens when you can visualize the work accomplished. When life is young we react to the exhilaration of activity. Our interest seems to push us pleas­antly from one thing to another. As long as the conference budget takes care of our locomotion, even a church campaign can become fun. Your husband may be superintending a project in the churches of his district. He will count on your help, and most of all on your inspiration.

Soul winning provides delightful compensa­tions. The word drudgery has no place in the worker's vocabulary once the life has been dedi­cated to the ministry.

Some who really do know the secret of efficiency have suggested that the homemaker should learn to work rhythmically. They produce interesting statistics on what rhythm has accomplished in production plants, when sooth­ing music has brought joy to the otherwise nervous pieceworker. So sing while you are ironing and dusting. You are not dependent on a rec­ord player for providing rhythm, just "keep a song in your heart," as the junior would say.

While handling the more irksome chores, let your mind make plans for the family garden, or for some pleasant recreational surprise. The homemaker may well be envied, because a rea­sonable amount of housework provides whole­some exercise and promotes good posture.

Referring to dusting, here is a gem of good counsel for ministers' wives: "Decide on the smallest amount of dusting and cleaning that will meet the need, and build your own house­hold program around it." She is advised to practice intelligent neglect. The exaggerated punctiliousness, preciseness, and scrupulousness of the "dutiful" housekeeper hardly fit into the role of the minister's wife. We caught another morsel of wisdom at a shepherdess gathering: "Simplify the home itself by putting away those articles that require too much time and care." As we listened we were counseled to resort to the use of plastic tablecloths or place mats and an array of other labor-saving devices.

There is much more to be said on the subject of conserving the ministerial wife's household time. If she is already experienced, she will be able to enter into a lively discussion at your meeting. For those desirous of learning from an expert, the Handbook for Ministers' Wives (published by Woman's Press, N.Y.) will really come to your rescue. In her chapter on this topic, Welthy Honsinger. Fisher refers to the brochure Time Management for Homemakers, which can be procured from the Consumer's Education Department of the Household Fi­nance Corporation. For practical living in the ministerial household, Mrs. Fisher, herself a minister's wife, will provide you with excellent suggestions. Also see Life and Health, February and March, 1958. The articles by Shirley Bo­zarth will provide ideas for this month's discus­sion on managing your household time.

Halloween

To add reality to the foregoing discussion on our management of household time let us now give some thought to the timely Halloween problem. Were you daydreaming about some recreational program while doing the family ironing? Now you can turn your dreams into a practical test. The date for Halloween is Oc­tober 31; its utility, zero; its orthodoxy, impos­sible! But our analysis will not guide you through this All Saints' Day problem. It is of Catholic origin, to be sure. It masquerades in the guise of witchcraft and undignified beggary; but it seems to be lots of fun for even our Ad­ventist youth. Dare we take the joy out of our children's lives? This is a big question. Some have endeavored to direct youthful exuberance into more orthodox channels. We now use the costumes of mission lands and solicit for worth­while welfare and uplift projects. You may wish to discuss the following points:

1. The origin of Halloween.
2. Is Halloween a constructive or destructive custom?
3. Substituting pleasure without compromise.

We will do well to enlist the help of experi­enced shepherdesses—those able to balance ar­gument. We suggest that someone be prepared to present the tests that should be applied to our social life. See The Bible Instructor, page 205. 

L. C. K.