There was a blog post shared on Facebook recently titled "I look down on young women with husbands and kids and I'm not sorry". The post got a lot of flack from stay at home moms and moms everywhere, understandably. Jeremy thought I was fuming because, according to her, I have "no real accomplishments", "don't take care of myself", and I don't "work". All these things could be and are insulting. Like all a mother or stay at home mom does is park her bulk around the house and do nothing while her children raise themselves and her house cleans itself and her marriage maintains itself and meals make themselves... But the real problem here is her disdain of traditional values - marriage, children, and training them. I probably shouldn't be surprised, but I don't know how she can think maintaining a marriage over x years and rearing children that are Godly, kind, servant hearted, and hard working is not an accomplishment and doesn't take work. Where does she think that engineers, doctors (clearly the only careers that are worth something...), etc come from if they aren't raised and trained and loved by their parents?
I actually did bother to read her whole post (very short) in which she claims that marriage and having children are so ordinary as to be average. (She is neither married nor a mother.) She is right - they are ordinary things and yet so beautiful and amazing and truly miracles from God. I could look at finding a partner for life as boring - and yet, I wouldn't have gotten married if God hadn't put Jeremy & I together. I could look at children as an unplanned burden. And yet, seeing that children don't just "happen" to everyone, they feel like a precious miracle to me. They were born and born healthy through no work of my own.
She also says that laundry will never be as important as a being a doctor or engineer or building a business. True. If I found my value of being a SAHM by my ability to do laundry, I would be thoroughly depressed. But laundry = taking care of my family. Taking care of my family = love. Therefore, although laundry is boring and tedious, it's just part of my service to my family. And what does she know - I could be raising a doctor, engineer, a business owner, a child who grows up to have a life of service to others.
She might think backpacking through Asia, landing a dream job, or a golden promotion are worth far more than what I do every day. I say, big deal. I've worked outside the home. I had jobs I endured and jobs I liked and I can tell you what I'm doing now feels like the first thing I've done that's really "worth" something. I'm doing the Lord's work here.
Chin up, ladies! What we do has an eternal contribution to the world unlike anything this woman will ever do at her job.
