Working as a Mother

Wife and mother is a vocation.

The duties and responsibilities of a wife and mother are not part-time activities; they are a full-time endeavor requiring dedication and commitment to build the skills necessary to be successful. Similar to how one might go to school and/or focus time and efforts toward a career discipline, even more so a wife and mother must dedicate her life to experience the fullest measure of success in her home.

I am confused at the wider range of skills, higher degree of competence, and more demanding and strenuous labor required and demonstrated in my wife compared to my female co-workers, yet my co-workers bear the term “working” while my wife gets branded as “stay-at-home.” Then, to add insult to injury, in spite of the incredible disparity in dedication and endeavor on behalf of the family, the term “mother” seems equally and somewhat arbitrarily applied.

I also think it’s interesting, that we would never encourage would be accountants, doctors, or lawyers to actively pursue other endeavors that would undoubtedly require them to sacrifice time away from their primary studies. You would never hear anyone counseling young budding professionals or tradesmen that they could divert their attentions toward competing pursuits and still effectively master their disciplines and achieve at their highest potential.

In the above instances, dedication and commitment mean 100% of your focus and attention; sacrifice other things, but not that which you are dedicated and committed to. It stands to reason that the increasingly automatic practice of pushing family and children to the back burner indicates that our culture values career above family and/or children.

It’s debatable whether we’re looking at the chicken or the egg, and obviously some very devoted mothers have no choice but to do additional work outside the home, but it is clear that straying from God’s path has clearly inhibited (sometimes prohibited) the recognition of wife and mother not only as a vocation, but as a worthwhile vocation. Some would argue that women have benefited, but it is unarguable that the family and children have not.

Lord, protect our children.

(I can’t possibly credibly address every aspect of this issue, partly because I have neither the time nor the wisdom, but mainly because I am not a woman. Here’s a blog post my wife showed me that goes much further to challenge today’s mis-understanding of women.)

There can be only One.

We did a Bible study this morning on the light that God made. It was kind of an impromptu….uh, who am I kidding….we prayed and then pulled it out of thin air.

Seriously, I wanted to talk to the girls about worldly deception, and I had planned to talk about the serpent in the garden, but things went in a different direction. Instead, we talked about light and dark…and the alleged worldly grey.

It turned out to be a very simple and easy study.

God made the light, and it was good. He divided/distinguished the light from the dark, and that was good. The Bible doesn’t say anything about grey. God said it was good. He did not say it’s good for some people, but not everyone sees things the same way, so it’s not good for others.

Truth is a common theme in the Bible; a theme the world is not very fond of. The idea that good and evil exist and are mutually exclusive of one another is not something the world is eager to embrace. I mean after all, “you will not surely die.” Even more offensive to the world is that there is only one Truth, one Light, and one Way.

It is the Truth, or it is not; it is the Light, or it is not; it is the Way, or it is not. There is no in-between. There is no grey.

As it says in the Bible, you cannot serve two masters, you will “hate the one and love the other…be loyal to the one and despise the other.” In the worldly debate over a black and white moral standard, grey is not an argument against black.

PoliWax

PoliWax has been unlocked, so New American Racism: Embracing Obama has been removed from this site. It can be found on PoliWax.

Sorry for the confusion..."these aren't the droids you're looking for...move along."

Narrow Path Exit 3:16

I got an audio Bible for Christmas, and I recently threw caution to the wind and stored the CDs in my car. Now, I listen to the Bible on my way to and from work.

It’s actually pretty cool.

If I wasn’t listening to the Bible, that’s almost an hour and a half (sometimes more) of cursing my neighbor for driving too slow, cutting me off, not using blinkers, tailgating, and other stuff that I’m sure I’m typically cursed for when I drive. Now, instead of being angry that people are driving like I do, I focus on the word of God. The only bad part is that if I try taking notes I end up driving into the bay, and if I underline significant passages I end up with a CD that plays nothing but the genealogy of Gad over and over and over.

At least “Raca” is slowly being weeded out of my driving vocabulary. (Matt 5:22)

I definitely prefer reading my Bible, and actual reading is definitely a more complete and engaging experience. While I don’t think listening (while driving anyway) can adequately substitute for reading, I find that having listened to several chapters earlier during my drive, when/if the opportunity to read later arises, I tend to feel absolved of the responsibility to actually crack the book. My usual excuses for not reading my Bible are bolstered by the fact that I listened and meditated…at 70 mph…right through a red light.

My Bible CDs are a stumbling block…how did that happen?

I definitely need a Savior.

Anyway, it is an awesome gift, and I think my car is a good place for it; it’s being put to good use. I do feel that I still need to take active responsibility for my relationship with God and actually read. Besides, I noticed that I haven’t blogged on the Word in a while. Also, it’s time to start Bible studies with our oldest…but that’s another post.

New American Racism: Embracing Obama

(This post was a copy of a post from another blog. While it has been removed from this blog, it can still be found in its original location on PoliWax.)

Our Intellectual Tower

Suddenly I realized what God meant:

“…this is what they begin to do; now nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them.” (Gen 11:6)

My wife showed me an article today on MSNBC about a woman who had a surgery altering her breasts and began taking testosterone because she wants to be a man. Even though she wanted to be a man, and she pursued this desire by physically altering her body, she decided not to have her female reproductive organs removed...because she wanted to one day have a baby. Well, the first attempt at having a baby resulted in her fallopian tubes being removed, but undaunted, she is again pregnant.

Satan has told us, “You will not surely die. For God knows…your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God…” (Gen 3:4) Deceived in our pride, as Adam and Eve were, we are empowered, and simply because sin is within our grasp and it seems desirable to us, we cast off the love, wisdom, and guidance of God, and show no restraint as we strive to exalt and justify the self by any and every means.

Have Mercy, Lord.

Political senses starting to dull?

Try PoliWax!

I was thinking…I spend so much time posting to this blog that maybe I should mix it up a bit and post to another blog…everything in moderation, right?

I sense skepticism.

The truth is I am utterly dumfounded by some of the latest political developments in the US, especially with relation to Presidential hopeful, Barack Obama; so much so, I have to blog about it, and since this blog was not meant as a political forum, I started another.

Don’t get me wrong, I completely expect that politics will at times be very relevant and applicable fodder for growing in faith and leading our families in faith, especially since modern day politicians and government seem so intent on encroaching on religion and family. I simply want to make certain politics does not dominate the landscape.

The Father-hood is devoted first to God and family, and while obviously (I cannot betray my values) the other blog is likely to be inadvertently devoted to the same things, the topics will focus more on politics, policy, and the zany antics of voters within the US.

Anyway, in case postings seem to get sparse here in the Father-hood, you can always check the other blog for some PoliWax.