Bored

I was chatting with some young ladies the other day about being a mom. None of these ladies is a mother, nor should they be yet, given their ages. Nevertheless, we discussed various aspects of motherhood. Upon hearing that I do not work outside the home but instead am employed in what I call my "Dream Job" as a stay-at-home mom, one of the girls said she could never do that because she would be so bored.

I was not offended at this comment. Partly because I am not that easily offended, and partly because she is just a young girl who is not even close to being a mom and just doesn't know what she is talking about. Having said that, many of us moms have heard the same comment from fellow mothers who do work outside the home. Every time I hear it I am always perplexed by the phrase. How could you possibly be bored? I would welcome that phenomenon from time to time!

If I could, I would love to tell both groups of women, those young ladies who will one day be mothers, and also those current mothers who do work outside the home, why I am not bored in my vocation. Since I have this endlessly empty page on which to write, I will just go ahead and do that.

In my role as a mother, I spend a lot of time putting kids to bed, making food, feeding the children, cleaning up after meals, changing diapers or potty training, playing trucks and farm, or reading books. I am also a wife of a full-time worker, so in that role I make sure my husband is fed, has clean, ironed clothes, and comes home each evening to a relatively clean, peaceful house and a good meal. I am also in charge of our finances which entails budgeting, paying bills, and being thrifty with our money. That is the bulk of what I do. But there is a reason behind all of this. I have many goals I hope to achieve as I live out my vocation as a mother and wife, and I see no other way to achieve those goals at this time than to be at home.

My main goal is to see that my husband and children go to heaven, or at least do everything I can to help them on their way. In working toward that goal, I need to impart my faith to my children from birth and each day after in little bits and nuggets that they can understand. I am seeing a real faith in God emerge from my almost 4 year old and it is beautiful. But without day-to-day conversations about faith, I am not certain that he would be so early in developing a relationship with God.

Another goal I have for my family is peace. I see many families who are running ragged. I am sure I will see ragged days in the future when my children are older and have more outside activities. But for now, I want them to know a life of peace and calmness, to the degree that it's possible. It's often in the slower times that I have the opportunity to really get to know my children, which is incredibly important.So staying home with them helps this out. There is order to our house and to our lives. We don't have a lot of things to rush out to, we can usually go at our own pace. And, given my personality, I am more at peace which makes everyone happier. My husband is happiest when I am happy and peaceful and content. The saying, "if Mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy," comes to mind.

I will spare you readers from a longer litany of other goals, but I will add one last one. I have a goal of healthfulness for my family. To meet that goal, I try to give my family the best nutrition I can. That means cooking more foods from scratch and eating out less often. I bake my own bread when I can, make extra food for the freezer so quick meals are also healthy, and use the best ingredients I can afford. This is just a part of meeting that goal, but it is one that takes time and I don't think I would be able to do much of that if I were not at home. And if my kids were at daycare or a babysitters, I would not be able to monitor their eating as much and they would also be exposed to more illness.

Now, as far as being bored, I must throw in something I heard a long time ago and I think it's really true. Only those who do not understand their purpose in life are bored. If you understand your mission, you are never bored because that is always in your thoughts and you will work toward that mission and purpose. I know and understand my current mission well, so that I am always working toward my goals as a wife and mother. If I find some time when I can rest, or just enjoy life, then that is a bonus mini-vacation which revives my spirit to continue in my mission. If you look at it this way, even the most mundane tasks for any mom don't seem so bad. For instance, I don't LOVE to do laundry, but I DO love it that my husband always has clean clothes and doesn't have to spend any time or energy on that part of life. Also, I do NOT love to do dishes, but I DO love the feeling of waking up in the morning to a clean slate, a peaceful and tidy kitchen, just ready to get messy again. I do NOT love to change messy diapers, but I DO love the time I get to spend, one-on-one with my littlest child, laughing and learning about who he is.

So, to future moms, please consider this as the time approaches for your own family life. Make decisions prior to motherhood that will allow you to follow the stay-at-home path if you should choose it (ie: don't buy a huge house that requires 2 full-time incomes). Learn to make sacrifices with a glad spirit so that when you do find yourself with kids and a house and a husband that you are already good at giving of yourself for the good of others. Seek out God's call in your life for your vocation so that you can be sure that, even though it's hard, what you are working toward is in line with God's will.

And for any mothers who work, I PROMISE you, if you stayed at home and had your goals for your family in mind each day, you would NEVER be bored.

Me bored???? No.