Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Satisfaction At Home


Women and men now find it difficult to believe that a life centered around the home can satisfy their needs for personal fulfillment and genuine achievement.

Women have been taught women that a life at home raising babies and taking care of their husbands and children not fulfilling. They needed to get an education and career to find happiness. Housewives were bored and unfulfilled being at home all day. Many women believed this to be true.

Women have left their homes in droves to pursue careers and fulfillment outside the home.  Are they any happier? I don't think so. They feel torn between their jobs and their families.  This doesn't sound like the fulfillment they were promised.

When we regain connection with all that sustains us, we regain creative spirit. We rediscover the joy that comes with using our hands and our minds in union to nourish, nurture and delight our families.

Since leaving the home, this seems to be the result ~

Millions more compulsively view television, video games, and pornography; play the stock market; overeat; shop for things they don't need, and flee their helplessness and hopelessness in countless other ways. Increasingly the US economy is based on diversions and anesthetizations.

Dr. Micheal Yapko found that in those societies where depression is less prevalent, there is less emphasis on technology and consumerism and greater emphasis on family and community. Our actual needs are so much larger emotionally and so much smaller materially than we have come to describe them in American society.

Teach the young women to be...keepers at home. 
Titus 2:5

Comments (15)

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Lori,
The Lord is always using you to speak to my heart! I needed this reminder today!
Thank you!
Blessings,
Carla <><
I was a homemaker for the last year and a half and loved it so much. Unfortunately we've become overwhelmed with credit and medical debt (a result of poor spending habits and planning) and I've had to take on a part time job to help pay off the debt. We have a plan in place so that I'll be able to stay home again next year, but it is hard.

I have found though, that if I look at my job with an eternal perspective, I find it more fulfilling. When clients are being mean to me, I just think, I need to treat them kindly and with respect and then pray for them. Or when I feel overwhelmed and feel like giving up, I stop and pray for God to help me through it.

I think that in the same way it is easy to dwell on the mundane tasks of a job outside of the home, sometimes homemakers can feel like there is no fulfillment in their work. But when we put Christ at the center of all that we do, whether it be working outside the home or being a keeper of the home, we will find true fulfillment and we will see that in everything we do, we can glorify and serve God.
I agree with what you're saying. However, as a woman in my early 20s, I find it very difficult to meet men who want to take on the role of leading a household, even the men I encounter at church. It seems that our society has put men down and essentially devalued masculinity in general. I think this might be why I struggle with finding a man who possesses the qualities necessary to run a household. I fear that I might never have the opportunity to take on my God given role.
I understand what Alice is saying. I'm married (no children), and I too, work outside the home. I need to to help with the finances. My husband works, but does not make enough so that I would be able to stay at home. The mentality is that if you stay at home that you are lazy, instead of being a keeper of the home.
I became a full time housewife due to my severe chronic pain worsen where I needed to resign from my full time job.
My true love is keeping house and now I can finally pursue it.
I am so supportive of any woman who wants to stay home and is financially capable; however, I would hate that someone put that expectation upon me and looked down on my working outside the home. That is the wonderful thing about this country. We are free to each pursue our own version of a happy and satisfying life.
I have so enjoyed my time at home with my son.
I think it is important for women to have an education and work skills in the event that they one day find themselves as the primary breadwinner with children to support. Living on only one income is not always possible unless one's spouse has a high-paying job. Additionally, I see nothing wrong with a woman having a career and a family. When both spouses work, sharing the parenting experience makes for a more cohesive existence for all involved.
Very interesting post !
I am very glad that women are free to do either ( IF they are financially capable to choose! :)
I think some women are working today to buy more things. They do have a choice and could stay home if they desired, but have materialistic desires. Others would love to be home but have to work to help put a roof over their heads and food on the table.
I've always had a career and it was the right path for me. I love the fulfillment of my job and the haven of my family. We're all different I guess!
I quick my high-income job when my daughter was born and was a stay-at-home mom until she was in the first grade. I felt it was important to stay on top of her development. It was good that I did because issues cropped up. Early recognition and help really helped the situation.

I have to be honest though...I was miserable being a SAHM. It just wasn't right for me. Now, I work while my daughter is in school. I took a big hit in pay by taking off the time I did. I'm so much happier now though. Yes, balancing work with home like is stressful, but I'm happier, not sadder.

What works for one person doesn't necessarily work for another person. It's up to each woman to decide what works for her family's needs.
How is it that women came to think that their role as mothers was unimportant? There is nothing more important that a mother can do than to raise her children with love, patience, understanding, kindness, etc. Grass is always greener, isn't it? Another great post from you.
I see a resurgence of home making on blogs and in other areas of late.

It makes me so happy.

Children need to be nurtured.

Sometimes it doesn't work to stay at home...and I get that...but I agree that the house and home always needs to be the nucleus for the family.

Thank you for another splendidly thoughtful post.

A+
Jennifer Dunn's avatar

Jennifer Dunn · 522 weeks ago

I often hear that women should do what makes them happy....and it makes me sad. That we have so often placed our own happiness above what God has called us to be. I understand that some women enjoy being home more than others, but it all comes down to what does God have to say about it? He calls women to be keepers at home regardless of the opportunities that the world gives for women to do otherwise. Women need to learn to submit themselves to the plan that God has for our lives. To humbly serve our Lord Jesus Christ and our families, even when it doesn't bring a smile to our faces. God has not called us to be happy, he has called us to be faithful and obedient.

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