Friday, October 2, 2009

Passionate Housewives Desperate for God-Part 2

This is a long quote from homemaker and former attorney, Cheryl Mendelson.
"So many people imagine housekeeping to be boring, frustrating, repetitive, unintelligent drudgery. I cannot agree. In fact, having kept house, practiced law, taught, and done many other sorts of work, low and high-paid, I can assure you that it is actually lawyers who are most familiar with the experience of unintelligent drudgery...Seen from the outside, housework can look like a Sisyphean task that gives you no sense of reward or completion. Yet housekeeping actually offers more opportunities for savoring achievement than almost any other work I can think of. Each of its regular routines brings satisfaction when it is completed...You get satisfaction not only from the sense of order, cleanliness, freshness, peace and plenty restored, but from the knowledge that you yourself and those you care about are going to enjoy those benefits.
Often we don't view our daily activities biblically. We wrongly believe that the more mundane the task, the less significant it is to God. As difficult as it may be to believe, the hands that tenderly bathe your baby at night are no less holy than the hands that serve you communion on Sunday. Every small act of love to your family-every diaper you change, every meal you prepare, every toilet you scrub, every errand you run, every fever you tend to, each tooth you pull, every moment of undefiled intimacy with your husband-each one is a holy act when it's done as unto the Lord.
Over the years, I have learned that so much depends on my being home-my being available to the needs of my husband and my children. Our older children are wonderful helpers, but they are not "Mom". Our little ones need my attention, training, correction, teaching, reassurance, and boo-boo kissing. Our older children still need me for many of those things as well. But they require Mom's attention in other ways too. They need challenging conversation, scriptural counsel, intimate friendship, and advanced home-training.
My husband needs me to be available in a myriad of ways. I may return phone calls for him, write letters, edit e-mails, make purchases, run errands, pay bills, counsel and pray with him, and yes-even kiss a boo-boo or two! Husbands need attention, and being available to your husband is crucial to your relationship with him." (PHDfG pages 36-37)
1. One blessing that I see as a SAHM is that I can choose what I do when. No one tells me if I have to do laundry or dishes first. If the Lambs need me, I can stop what I'm doing to read a story or take time for a teachable moment. There are a few things that have deadlines like paying the taxes on time, but the majority of my work has no deadline. If I'm tired I go to bed and know that I have a chance to do that item on my to-do list the next day. Even meals don't have to be on time, although we try to eat about noon, no one is upset if lunch is a little late because I was doing another task.
2. Often it is depressing that what I do accomplish just has to be done again later in the day or the next day. Examples: dishes and laundry! I think if I tried to take this attitude of this quote more often it wouldn't be so depressing. And maybe I would be more motivated to clean the toilets-on second thought, probably not that one!
3. What she says about older children really hit me. I was so blessed that my mom didn't return to work until I was in high school and then much of it was just part time. I think it is really important to be home when your children are middle school age. Often women return to work as soon as all their children are all in school. I wish they could wait until at least their children are all in high school. When children are in middle school, they really need those challenging conversations and spiritual counsel with their parents as they try to sort out their world view. I pray that I'm able to still be a SAHM when our Lambs get to that point.
4. I can't make the shut in calls or write the sermon for Ram, but I do a lot behind the scenes to give him time to do his work as a pastor. He does most of the cooking, and we mostly share kitchen clean up. But when I provide clean clothes for him or pay the bills or write the thank you notes or the other multiple things I do each day, that is all helping Ram to have time to be a pastor and father. It would be the same even if Ram wasn't a pastor. The work that I do behind the scenes would help him do whatever job he had.
Any thoughts about this quote? Any other comments about PHDfG?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for your reviews of this book, Ewe. . .it is one I had looked at online but couldn't decide if it would be a good one to read or not!