More Than "Just" a Mom

Today's post from Hoodwinked:10 Myths Mom's Believe & Why We All Need to Knock it Off, is from Chapter 4: Myth #3: I am "Just" A Mom.

Ruth starts off this chapter telling us about a trip to the bank, where she tells the bank teller that she is a stay at home mom, and the teller saying to her, "If you ever start working, we can update your information."  Page 53.

Now, I am fairly certain that this teller is probably not a parent.  Because we all know, staying at home is work.  It's actually 24/7/365 work, with no "bank holidays", no stat pay, no medical benefits, and no vacation pay.  It's amazing, rewarding, frustrating, testing, loving work.  Sometimes all at once!

But just because I too am a stay at home mom, it is not my only identity.  I am a wife.  I am a daughter.  I am a friend.  I am a Christian.  I am our bookkeeper, as my husband is self employed.  I am a blog writer. I am addicted to crafting stuff.  Lots of different stuff.  I'm not addicted to always finishing a project before I start a new one...  This means I am also a work in progress.

AND I am a Mom to three amazing, God given gifts.

I think the single line from this chapter that resonated with me the most was on page 56, where she is talking about the fact that she wants her daughter to embrace motherhood, but then continues to say, "And more than anything, I want her to reject the myth that being a mom is somehow less significant than other pursuits."

Yes.  That!  I was talking with my husband the other night in the kitchen, and I told him that it is sometimes frustrating that society today paints Mom's who have the ability to stay at home as lazy.  Like the only thing we have to offer the world is our career.  For some mom's, that is their dream.  They have chosen to have a career outside the home, and still have a family.  And that is their choice.  Just because my husband and I have decided that the best thing for our family is for me to stay at home with our children and homeschool them, does not mean that I am not contributing to society. 

My contribution to society is going to last for generations.  Because the days, weeks and years that I get to spend at home with my children now are going to shape how they parent.  And how their children parent.  My contribution to our society is the next generation of our society.  Maybe only locally. Or maybe globally.  I don't yet know what God has planned for them.  And I can't think of anything more important than what God has called me to do for this season in my life.