Thursday, May 31, 2012

Not measuring up

We live in a harsh society.
A society that I was well protected from and kept innocent of growing up.
Do you ever tire of constantly not measuring up in this countries eyes?

Sometimes in my mind the phrase comes over me
'Let me be a women'
Just let me be a women I think!  I know how to nurture and raise a child.  I know how to be a helper to my husband.  I know how to be a friend who loves and how to volunteer my time.  That stuff is all built into me by my creator.
But I live in a society who seems to be against everything I measure up to be and it hurts.  


Normally I let things roll off my back, or try at least, but today something struck me as especially cruel and it stung deep.
I was told that being a stay at home mother is not a job.  
There is so much war in this world at it hits home often.
I don't plan to defend my role as a mother to the ones who don't see me as worth anything.. I don't have to do that to the misunderstanding women who carelessly spouted off such a statement.
She didn't get it.
To be a helper to my husband and stand by his side the way Nancy Reagen did to her husband is a job I love.  As well as to nurture a young child over the years and to spend myself on Him is a tiring but rewarding job.

I don't have a pay check, I don't have a degree, 
but I love to learn from other, through books, and research and have spent a great deal of time educating myself on all sorts of things from flowers to our worlds history.  I'm interested and didn't check out of reality when I became a wife at the age of 19 and a mother at the age of 21.  And yet somehow our society believes that to be the case. 
Becoming a mother placed me in a role of raising a human being who is my blessing but a responsibility I take very seriously.  I am in charge of raising my son to know his creator and love him, be a law abiding citizen, and to be a respectful man.
If that's not a job well I don't know what is one.
I believe there is no one standard way to be a mother, they come in all different forms.
There's the mom that loves to slip on an apron and stand at the door when her kids come flying in after school.  There's the mom who puts on a uniform and steps into an office from 9-5 and dashes off as soon as possible to see her children again.  They don't look the same but they love the same and that's what's important in my opinion.

I look forward to the day when the critics will be silenced and I will stand before my heavenly father who will see that i kept His word in my heart and lived it.  
Sometimes being a christian in this harsh society is rough because we are a minority but I know when we rest in eternity with our God it will have been worth it to have been different here.
Trying to measure up to the worlds standards is exhausting and i'm thankful to know Jesus and be able to hear what God thinks of me.
Be encouraged today! you measure up in God's eyes.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

OH, Laura...I wish to GOD I had read this sooner!!! (Being without a laptop kinda prevented that...) The hardest JOB I ever had was raising Kim and Mike! And compounding that job was the one that I had to do outside the home, and the colossal efforts I made to keep a marriage, child-raising and a job --- simultaneously.

So yes, it IS a job, being a wife, a parent, and a volunteer, and a homemaker, and a friend, and a Christian woman. Do you get paid? Oh HECK yes, you do! You receive unending love of your Father; you receive the love of your devoted husband; you have the incredible trust and love of your son; your friends value you above and beyond. You are treasured by those whom you touch with your blogs. ANYbody tries to tell you otherwise, has to come through me. I will set them straighter than --- well, nevermind. They will get the picture.

While I have been a working-outside-the-home parent, watching my two babies grow into amazing adults has been my greatest joy. No job I ever had can compare.

GB

The Resident Writer said...

I am not raising children, but I do feel the harsh judgement of the world (and sometimes even the church) because I do not work due to medical issues. I feel an almost constant judgement from the church, not so much for being a stay at home wife, but for not having (or planning to have) kids. Thank you for this reminder that we live only to please God and not others.