Edith Schaeffer's The Hidden Art of Homemaking
(1971) and What Is a Family?
(1975) have sold steadily in Christian bookstores for over a generation, and now Ashworth offers daughters (and sons) of Schaeffer's early readers an equally inspirational tribute to caregiving. Wife and business partner of Nashville musician Charlie Peacock, Ashworth maintains in this solidly biblical yet culturally aware book that caregiving—loving and serving other people—is to some extent the duty of every Christian. For certain Christians, caregiving is also a lifelong vocation that, though undervalued in our productivity-obsessed world, deserves as much respect as any paid employment. Ashworth is no Martha Stewart: she provides encouragement rather than crafts and recipes. Nor is she Pollyanna: she recognizes that caregiving can be tedious and exhausting, and only those who set firm boundaries and rely on God's help are likely to persist. Ashworth's own struggle with balancing business and home life increases her credibility as she promotes flower gardens, hospitality and leisurely conversations over dinner, though some may object that such unhurried attentiveness can only be a dream for most young families. If her abundant anecdotes evoke nostalgia for a bygone era, they also reinforce her point that "when we create beauty—in our environment, relationships, music, cooking, poetry and celebrations—we express our hope for the new heaven and new earth that God promises." Ashworth does not provide a detailed road map to her peaceable kingdom, but she clearly shows that if it is ever to be created, someone must care. (July)
