As a stay at home mom, I am surprised to find that I have to fight the urge to stay in my pajamas all day, sipping diet coke and watching Oprah while I bathe, feed, and play with my babies. It is a temptation that I've never had before and I believe it stems from the belief that it's just easier to stay home and watch Oprah (no offense to Oprah, I don't actually watch Oprah, but it seems many stay at home moms love her, no offense Naomi) than to do all it takes to get out of the house.
Yes, it is easier to stay home but it is not good for me, I have decided. I need routine, structure and order. I need to take a shower every day and put on some makeup. I need exercise and laughter with friends. And, I believe, my boys need a mother who is active, enthusiastic, and full of life...not diet coke. Don't get me wrong, I also need days of relaxation - days that I stay in my pajamas and don't do a single load of laundry...these are the exception, not the rule.
I am also finding that it is easy to lose focus and wonder about my purpose. Yes, mothering is a noble task, challenging and rewarding - but some days feel ignoble, poopy diapers, sour milk spit-up, drool and boogers. Anyway, I was feeling the drudgery of my mothering tasks the other day, and I came across this excerpt from Dietrich Bonhoeffer's "Letters and Papers from Prison":
The place where God has put the wife is the husband's home. Most people have forgotten nowadays what a home can mean, though some of us have come to realize it as never before. It is a kingdom of its own in the midst of the world, a stronghold amid life's storms and stresses, a refuge, even a sanctuary. It is not founded on the the shifting sands of outward or public life, but it has its peace in God, for it is God who gives it its special meaning and value, its own nature and privilege, its own destiny and dignity. It is an ordinance of God in the world, the place in which - whatever may happen in the world - peace, quietness, joy, love, purity, discipline, respect, obedience, tradition, and, with it all, happiness may dwell. It is the wife's (and mother's) calling, and her happiness, to build up for her husband (and kids) this world within the world, and to do her life's work there. How happy she is if she realizes how great and rich a task and destiny she has. Not novelty, but permanence; not change, but constancy; not noisiness, but peace; not words, but deeds; not commands, but persuasion; not desire, but possession - and all these things inspired and sustained by her love for her husband (and kids) - that is the wife's kingdom.
*I added the non-italicized words.
I think that Dietrich sums it up pretty well and I am thankful that the Lord brought this passage into my attention when He did. And because I just cannot resist - I will end this posting with some pictures of the boys :)
Mason enjoying the new flavor of rice cereal...some of it actually made it into his tummy. I know because he spit it up later that morning.
Mason, left, Smith, right, enjoying tummy time together.
They actually linked arms like this on their own - we didn't stage this cuteness.
Mason and his dear little thumb.
Smitty and a smearing of rice cereal...don't know how much made it to his tummy...I think very little.Smitty laughing
