The Mystique of the work-at-home mom.

Heavens! This is the third time I've tried to get this one out. Everytime I start someone interrupts me and since I am a technological moron and can't figure out how to retrieve my saved drafts, I keep having to start over. Maybe, it's just God's way of saying those other ones stunk.

I think we're all a little bit stuck on Sarah Palin right now. The fact that her name and mine sound an awful lot alike may have something to do with my obsession with her as well. But, her nominantion as VP, has sure stirred up a hornet's nest annd I for one, am buzzing along with all the rest.

One thing, which I commented on, maybe a little vehemently in my last post that Sarah has brought to the forefront is the issue of whether or not a woman should work outside of the home. As a believer in the inerrant and unchangable Word of God and as a devoted stay-at-home mommy, the answer is no mothers shouldn't work outside of their home. They are as Paul writes to be, "keepers at home" and as the created order ordains, "submissive to their husbands." Boo, hiss...I can hear that mouthy little feminist in me fume. But God's word trumps all, even her.

The sobering truth is that what "ought to be" isn't always "what is." Remmber we live in a fallen world where a growing number of mothers must work because they have been abandoned by godless, self-centered men who have fogotten their place in the created order--as protectors and providers. What do we say to them? Starve? Go on welfare? Turn to the church? The last option is the ideal. It is exactly as James commanded when he declared that, "this is pure and undefiled religion. To visit orphans and widows in their distress." But, the church building like the rest of the world, is crumbling and this uncomfortable command is rarely considered. I know several women in this very position, who believe with all their heart that their place is in the home. Some have moved in with other families to lighten the load so they can continue to homeschool. Others work before or after school starts to put supper on the table. Are these women disobedient? They are after all not keeping it all in the home, as some would suggest they do.

And what of this idea that it is okay to work as long as it is done within the comfortable confines of the home? That is afterall, what many in the "stay at home camp" promote. For once, I feel as though I actually have enough personal experience in this area, to actually have something insightful to say. For the first five years I homeschooled my oldest son, I worked out of my home as a freelance writer. I tried to pass myself off as a true Proverbs 31 chick, able to keep my home and maintain a fulfilling career. Secretly, I knew that wasn't the case at all. I couln't keep up my home and whenever I had a deadline, school work came to a screeching halt. Everyone knew the universal symbol for "shush" when mom was interviewing someone on the phone, ofte while taking notes on a napkin while driving down the road. And woe to he that interupteth mom while she was trying to pound out a particularily stubborn story. A child could loose a limb in that sort of climate. Eventually the Lord put an end to what clearly had become a great sin in my life. I hope to share more about that later, but I digress.

Now, I'm sure some women who work out of their home do it with far more grace, than I ever could. But, I don't care whether you're writing a book, stuffing envelopes, making homemade cookie mixes, or raising poison tree frogs for their antivenom there will come a time when your "home-based job" will keep you from your responsibilities as a wife and mother. And if you're anything like me, it will get in the way a lot, a whole lot. Looking back, my family would have been much better off if I had left my comfy little house for a few hours a day and gone to work!

I was a hypocrite, self-righteously looking down on friends who either didn't have it together enough to pursue a career from the comfort of their own couch or those who selfishly put their little ones in daycare or the public school system so they could pursue a career. It took me long time to figure out that it isn't just women who work outside the home who want to have their cake and eat it too, those who work from the home also have quite a sweet tooth.