The Hidden Art of Homemaking Quotes

“A Christian, who realizes he has been made in the image of the Creator God and is therefore meant to be creative on a finite level, should certainly have more understanding of his responsibility to treat God's creation with sensitivity, and should develop his talents to do something to beautify his little spot on the earth's surface.”
― Edith Schaeffer, The Hidden Art of Homemaking

“It is true that all men are created in the image of God, but Christians are supposed to be conscious of that fact, and being conscious of it should recognize the importance of living artistically, aesthetically, and creatively, as creative creatures of the Creator. If we have been created in the image of an Artist, then we should look for expressions of artistry, and be sensitive to beauty, responsive to what has been created for us” (p. 32).”
― Edith Schaeffer, The Hidden Art of Homemaking

“We foolish mortals sometimes live through years not realizing how short life is, and that TODAY is your life.”
― Edith Schaeffer, The Hidden Art of Homemaking

“Food cannot take care of spiritual, psychological and emotional problems, but the feeling of being loved and cared for, the actual comfort of the beauty and flavour of food, the increase of blood sugar and physical well-being, help one to go on during the next hours better equipped to meet the problems (p. 124).”
― Edith Schaeffer, The Hidden Art of Homemaking

“I am sure that there is no place in the world where your message would not be enhanced by your making the place (whether tiny or large, a hut or a palace) orderly, artistic and beautiful with some form of creativity, some form of ‘art’ (p. 213).”
― Edith Schaeffer, The Hidden Art of Homemaking

“Interior decoration is not just one's artistic efforts, but it is that which your home (even if it is just a room) is. If you are 'decorating' with clothes draped on every chair, with scratched and broken furniture- it is still your interior decoration! Your home expresses you to other people, and they cannot see or feel your daydreams of what you expect to make in that misty future, when all the circumstances are what you think they must be before you will find it worthwhile to start. You have started, whether you recognize that fact or not! We foolish mortals sometimes live through years not realizing how short life is, and that TODAY is your life.”
― Edith Schaeffer, The Hidden Art of Homemaking

“It seems to me that whether it is recognized or not, there is a terrific frustration which increases in intensity and harmfulness as time goes on, when people are always daydreaming of the kind of place in which they would like to live, yet never making the place where they do live into anything artistically satisfying to them. Always to dream of a cottage by a brook while never doing anything to the stuffy house in the city is to waste creativity in this very basic area, and to hinder future creativity by not allowing it to grow and develop through use." pg 66”
― Edith Schaeffer, The Hidden Art of Homemaking

“The tight little segregated life, always spent with people your own age, economic group, educational background, and culture tends to bring an ingrown, static sort of condition. Fresh ideas, reality of communication and shared experiences will be sparks to light up fires of creativity, especially if the people spending time together are a true cross-section of ages, nationalities, kindred, and tongues" (p. 202).”
― Edith Schaeffer, The Hidden Art of Homemaking

“All art involves conscious discipline. If one is going to paint, do sculpture, design a building or write a book, it will involve discipline in time and energy — or there would never be any production at all to be seen, felt or enjoyed by ourselves or others. To develop ‘Hidden Art’ will also, of course, take time and energy – and the balance of the use of time is a constant individual problem for all of us: what to do, and what to leave undone. One is always having to neglect one thing in order to give precedence to something else. The question is one of priorities” (p. 32).”
― Edith Schaeffer, The Hidden Art of Homemaking

“There are various art forms we may or may not have talent for, may or may not have time for, and we may or may not be able to express ourselves in, but we ought to consider this fact-that whether we choose to be an environment or not, we are. We produce an environment other people have to live in. We should be conscious of the fact that this environment which we produce by our very 'being' can affect the people who live with us or work with us.”
― Edith Schaeffer, The Hidden Art of Homemaking

“If you *stop* putting off homemaking until your hope of marriage develops into a reality, and *start* to develop an interesting home right now, it seems to me two things will happen: first, you will develop into the person you could be as you surround yourself with things that express your own tastes and ideas; and second, as you relax and become interested in areas of creativity, you will develop into a more interesting person to be with.”
― Edith Schaeffer, The Hidden Art of Homemaking

“Remember that He who created you to be creative gave you the things with which to make beauty and gave you the sensitivity to appreciate and respond to His creation. Creativity is His gift to you and the 'raw materials' to be put together in various ways are His gift to you as well.”
― Edith Schaeffer, The Hidden Art of Homemaking

“All art involves conscious discipline. If one is going to paint, do sculpture, design a building or write a book, it will involve discipline in time and energy- or there would never be any production at all to be seen, felt or enjoyed by ourselves or others...
the balance of the use of time is a constant individual problem for all of us: what to do, what to leave undone. One is always having to neglect one thing in order to give precedence to something else. The question is one of priorities.”
― Edith Schaeffer, The Hidden Art of Homemaking

“You have started, whether you recognize that fact or not. We foolish mortals sometimes live through years of not realizing how short life is, and that TODAY is our life. The day comes when we die.”
― Edith Schaeffer, The Hidden Art of Homemaking

“I cannot understand the almost exclusive emphasis on racial integration, when in fact we are getting more and more segregated into tight little cliques on age grounds.”
― Edith Schaeffer, The Hidden Art of Homemaking

“Is a Christian- one who communicates daily with the Creator- to divorce himself from the things God created and intended man to have, and which demonstrate the fact that man has been made in the image of God? In other words, are we who have been made in the image of our creator to be less creative than those who do not know the Creator? The Christian should have more vividly expressed creativity in his daily life.”
― Edith Schaeffer, The Hidden Art of Homemaking

“Writing for enjoyment of expression- like music and painting,(and photography)- does not NEED an audience of more than one.”
― Edith Schaeffer, The Hidden Art of Homemaking

“Because man was created in the image of a creator. Man was created that he might create. It is not a waste of mans time to be creative. It is not a waste to pursue artistic or scientific pursuits in creativity, because this is what man was made to be able to do. He was made in he image of a creator, and given the capacity to create.”
― Edith Schaeffer, The Hidden Art of Homemaking

“I often advise young brides who are traveling during their first weeks or months of marriage to start "homemaking" in a hotel, even if they are there for only a night, rather than groaning about having to "wait so long to have a home". How? ...Your own cloth, your own candlestick, just one rose or daffodil is enough to make a difference... You will be surprised how much difference it makes to have done something to make a room your home, even for one night.”
― Edith Schaeffer, The Hidden Art of Homemaking

“If you do nothing about this desire to use your artistic ability, there is a frustration, and you put part of yourself in a 'plaster cast' which will stunt your personality rather than develop it. There is also the danger of you becoming a complaining, whining, warped sort of person with self pity eating away inside you and coming out in caustic, jealous remarks.
In fact, it is wasteful not to use your talents to the full. It can be a form of pride not to use your abilities as 'Hidden Art' which will fulfill your own needs, and enrich the lives of others with whom you live, instead of submitting them to the frustrated you!”
― Edith Schaeffer, The Hidden Art of Homemaking

“If you have two loves of bread, sell one and buy a lily.
The bread becomes a different thing when eaten at a table with the lily in the center.”
― Edith Schaeffer, The Hidden Art of Homemaking

“Be satisfied with the fact that although your art or talent may never be accepted by the world as anything 'great', and may never be your career, it can be used to enrich your day by day life:enrich it for you, and for the people with whom you live....
and come to the recognition of the fact that it is important for you to BE creative in this area to the extent of your talent: important for you as a person who IS a creative creature.”
― Edith Schaeffer, The Hidden Art of Homemaking

“Whether in music, or other things, one never knows what surprisingly satisfying things God has in His plan for the developed talent with is literally 'given' to Him to use or to lay aside.”
― Edith Schaeffer, The Hidden Art of Homemaking

“It is in nature, among the things which God has created, designed and brought forth Himself, that we are in the most natural atmosphere to be inspired. Creative ideas are apt to flow in the midst of the creativity expressed in God's creation, as one is temporarily separated from the confusion of conflicting voices which would separate us from the simple basic realities of what 'is'- and this is especially true today, when so much of what man builds, paints and writes, not only has no place for God but has no place for nature or man either.”
― Edith Schaeffer, The Hidden Art of Homemaking

“There is a God who is there, and who is personal, and who accepts art (music) as a praise to Himself, as worship, when given to Him in this sincere way- without being strained through the 'strainer' of human acceptance.
If we follow the urging of God, we would not be embarrassed to fulfill our urge to create(make music) for God's ears alone.
Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all the earth.”
― Edith Schaeffer, The Hidden Art of Homemaking

“Even if (musical) talent is "just" used within a family, someone is appreciating what is being produced, or is sharing in the enjoyment....
for relaxation; for just plain fun and sharing: for the experience of doing something creative together.”
― Edith Schaeffer, The Hidden Art of Homemaking