Have you ever been put in your place by God? 
That is what happened to me last week. It is a humbling experience and not a coincidence that I am reading this book right now!
So, my thoughts on chapter three (with a fresh perspective from working through some trust issues with God):
- One of the questions posed in this chapter is what do you say when someone asks what you do? Do you feel tempted to say “I’m just a stay at home mom”, etc? That just word is dangerous. Raising our kids is a sacred calling. When I worked outside of the home, I never qualified my position as “just a marketing director”. So, why do we do that when we have made the decision to make homemaker our full time vocation? Stasi Eldredge, an author that I love, points out that anytime we say “just” about ourselves, we are diminishing the value of God’s creation. Let’s not diminish the value of what we do by feeling the need to justify our decision to stay home with our children!
- While I agreed with this chapter, I found the example of the “professional” stay at home mom condescending and judgemental {something I really wish the authors of this book strived to stay away from}.
- That being said, the authors make valid points. I was not taught home to keep a home or cook. When I became a wife at the age of eighteen, my husband had to teach me how to make macaroni and cheese out of a box. I never have learned to sew and the things I know about housekeeping and parenting I have learned in adulthood. Is that way it should be? No.
- Now, later on in the chapter, the authors take things too far for me again by suggesting that a church sponsored mother’s day out is, in so many words, insulting to mothers and their babies. I beg to disagree. Not all of us as women have made it to the point of being able to handle motherhood on our own when motherhood comes into our lives. Those times without my children allowed me to recharge and be a better mom when I picked them back up. I do not think mothers should be guilted into believing that leaving your child in a church nursery is inadequate parenting.
- I also agree with the authors that our families are our PRIMARY ministry as women and moms. However, I completely disagree that our contribution ends there. This is a very individual decision based on the call God places on a woman’s heart and her relationship with Him. Out of the overflow of my relationship with Christ and my desire to tell His story, I accept speaking engagements that take me away from home and devote a certain amount of time each day to writing. These things are not done at the detriment of my family (if I am in line with the Spirit) and are part of the ministry of my life. I won’t apologize for or doubt the validity of that call. It is between me and God (and my husband).
As we venture to chapter four, I just encourage you to read this book with a prayerful and open mind. Also, don’t forget to check out Betty’s thoughts on this week’s reading as well.
Now, on to how God put me in my place. Have you ever been praying for God to remove the speck from your husband’s eye and instead he points out the telephone pole sticking out of your own? Yeah, that is where I am at this week….
