Monday, December 19, 2011

The Most Important Work You'll Ever Do is in the Home

Today I read Titus 2 and the part that impressed me the most was when Paul was telling Titus to teach young women to be virtuous, discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, and obedient to their own husbands. I am reminded of the scripture in Jacob 2 in the Book of Mormon where Jacob tells the Nephites, and us, that God delights in the chastity of women.

I have always been tickled by women's liberation, as it is called anyway. It has always made me laugh. Now, don't get me wrong, I am most certainly glad that women can vote and are no longer treated as second class citizens, but the fact that women need to be "liberated" from being a mother or a wife is quite humorous to me. I mean, does a man ever get liberated from being a father or a husband? Of course not, but then again, women's liberation was actually from being a mother who stays home with the children. As if any career outside the home is going to be more important than raising good and righteous children. Why do we hunger for the praise of man? The answer of course is because we fear man more than we fear God. We should only be concerned with what God, and our spouse, think about us.

I most certainly believe that the most important work anyone will do is within the walls of their own home. This is true regardless of gender. I don't care if they are the President of the United States of America, if that man is not a good father, he is failing. That is why I don't really ever want a position of power. It tends to come with certain expectations that they will sacrifice everything for it and quite frankly, the most important thing to me is my family. I want to be able to spend time with my little girl and my wife and that is more important to me than earning tons of money. Children don't want every toy under the sun, they think they do, but what they really want is to spend time with their parents. President David O'McKay once said that no amount of success can compensate for failure in the home, or something close to that, and he is right.

Raising good and righteous children who know and love the Lord is every parent's number one responsibility. And the ones who have the most influence over making sure that happens is the mother. It's extremely challenging if not impossible to make that happen if the mother is not at home but instead out proving something to herself that she can make it in the corporate world. Now, I do not want to beat down those whose situations require two incomes out of necessity. There are those families that the father cannot find work that will pay sufficiently so that the mother can remain home. Rather I am talking about those where the mother works because they want to maintain a certain lifestyle or because they desire the praise of man. If there are children under 18 in the home, the mother's place is in the home. Now, I don't see a problem once all the children are school age to having a part time job so that the mother can be doing what she wants to do while the kids are at school. But I really do feel it's that important for the mother to be home with the children if they are home.

Women control so much in this world, far more than they realize. If all the women were to stand up and decide that the praise of the world did not matter, then this nonsense that a women is only worth something if she has a career would go away. But just as we can't change what is right and what is wrong by legislation, it doesn't make it right for women to leave the home when it is not necessary for a career just because everything thinks it's ok. God sets the standard for what is right and through His servants the Prophets we have been told that if at all possible the woman's place is at home raising the children with the help of her husband. I don't see how any woman can find that unrewarding to watch their children grow up in the Gospel. For me, being a father is SO much more rewarding than my career outside the home. Watching my daughter grow up and say prayers with us as a family is a wonderful thing that I wouldn't trade for anything. I hope you too are having those experiences. Until tomorrow.

2 comments:

  1. Thanks for that insight...I find that it is true, I think I would much rather be a stay at home wife and mother than have a career, there is much more to be gained by the first over the latter. I think its good for women to realize that they don't have to prove themselves by having a big career, because in the end they lose sight of what is truly important.

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  2. So true! But where are our young men (I have four sons) going to find young women who WANT to be homemakers and know how to be? I teach YW and I hear the girls say things like "I don't want to have children." "I want a career so I can have the money for all the things I want." "Even if I do have children, it won't be until later when we have enough money." (My children are almost all raised and I still don't have enough money!) And my poor daughter who would love to be a homemaker hasn't found many young men who are willing to work hard or long enough to support a family and let the wife stay at home. They seem to want a woman who will be a co-provider, instead of a co-creator. Thanks so much for your insights; it gives me hope! I have loved being a homemaker, which I believe is the BEST career. I get to be the boss; and if I decided that it's just too nice a day to stay inside and do laundry then we go outside and have a picnic! What corporate exec can do that? I'm never bored, there's always more to learn and do; the difficult years of babyhood don't last forever (they just seem to); and if a mother has spent the quantity of time with her children to build a solid foundation and relationship, the teen years are wonderful as you see your children growing up and becoming competent adults and great friends. We've had financial challenges over the years, but I wouldn't trade my career for anyone else's.

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