Working Women
I wrote this for some friends the other day. Thought I might share it here, too.
My wife recently asked me, "Do you resent me staying home while you go to work? Did you before we had our child?"
My answer: No. I've done her job briefly (when she's sick or gone or working) and I know that her job is way harder than mine. Just because it's not for an outside paycheck or a commission doesn't mean it's not real work. You could pay someone to work around your house- just 'cause someone will do it for free doesn't mean it's not a job.
So we both work. My wife works on household things and raises our child while I'm at work making money to provide for our household. Each of our jobs requires someone to do the other. Even before our child was born, my wife was working on realigning herself with God, preparing her heart and her mind and her spirit to take on the parenting job she has now.
We are wildly blessed to be able to have the lifestyle we have, living on my income alone, comfortable and relaxed. We can afford a lot of stuff (not just property but experiences and events as well) because of that blessing and a steadfast, urgent desire to treat God's resources responsibly. It requires us to think backward from the future: if we want to send our kids to college, we have to save for that first, then save for the new car we might need in a few years, then save for our annual bills like insurance, then pay for the immediate with what's left over. Want to go out for pizza? We have to decide who we're taking that money from: our child as a college student, us as retirees, or do our present selves have enough to spend?
We cannot afford to be complacent or to take our comfort for granted. This world is temporary, so we need to treat everything as a means to promote the eternal. Want a new sofa? Realize that its true value is not in making the living room look pretty but in ensuring we have a place to sit and talk about meaningful things with our friends and spend time with our family; the relationships must take priority over the temporary things of space and time.
There is no higher calling than to raise our children in the ways of Christ Jesus. Doesn't it make sense to focus our resources- financial, temporal, and everything else- in that direction first, then put what's left into our other ministries (to friends, to family, to neighbors, to others, to ourselves)?
My wife never spent her "at home" time watching TV and eating cookies by the bagful. She works harder than I do; I'd have to be profoundly selfish and ignorant to resent that time as "free time" or a "waste."
Traditional? Not according to the lifestyles of Americans born in the last 60 years or so. And shouldn't people be free to choose the lifestyle that they want, rather than what society and culture tell them they should?
It's not my intention to be preachy. I hope whoever reads this is able to find blessing and comfort in God's will. Following Him is not easy, but the rewards are beyond expression.
My wife recently asked me, "Do you resent me staying home while you go to work? Did you before we had our child?"
My answer: No. I've done her job briefly (when she's sick or gone or working) and I know that her job is way harder than mine. Just because it's not for an outside paycheck or a commission doesn't mean it's not real work. You could pay someone to work around your house- just 'cause someone will do it for free doesn't mean it's not a job.
So we both work. My wife works on household things and raises our child while I'm at work making money to provide for our household. Each of our jobs requires someone to do the other. Even before our child was born, my wife was working on realigning herself with God, preparing her heart and her mind and her spirit to take on the parenting job she has now.
We are wildly blessed to be able to have the lifestyle we have, living on my income alone, comfortable and relaxed. We can afford a lot of stuff (not just property but experiences and events as well) because of that blessing and a steadfast, urgent desire to treat God's resources responsibly. It requires us to think backward from the future: if we want to send our kids to college, we have to save for that first, then save for the new car we might need in a few years, then save for our annual bills like insurance, then pay for the immediate with what's left over. Want to go out for pizza? We have to decide who we're taking that money from: our child as a college student, us as retirees, or do our present selves have enough to spend?
We cannot afford to be complacent or to take our comfort for granted. This world is temporary, so we need to treat everything as a means to promote the eternal. Want a new sofa? Realize that its true value is not in making the living room look pretty but in ensuring we have a place to sit and talk about meaningful things with our friends and spend time with our family; the relationships must take priority over the temporary things of space and time.
There is no higher calling than to raise our children in the ways of Christ Jesus. Doesn't it make sense to focus our resources- financial, temporal, and everything else- in that direction first, then put what's left into our other ministries (to friends, to family, to neighbors, to others, to ourselves)?
My wife never spent her "at home" time watching TV and eating cookies by the bagful. She works harder than I do; I'd have to be profoundly selfish and ignorant to resent that time as "free time" or a "waste."
Traditional? Not according to the lifestyles of Americans born in the last 60 years or so. And shouldn't people be free to choose the lifestyle that they want, rather than what society and culture tell them they should?
It's not my intention to be preachy. I hope whoever reads this is able to find blessing and comfort in God's will. Following Him is not easy, but the rewards are beyond expression.