Sunday, November 11, 2007

Last night my man was so good to me. He ran me a hot bubble bath and rubbed my feet. While I was enjoying this pampering it caused me to think about Jesus and the foot washing, since my man was being such a humble servant to me.

I was wondering what would be the modern equivalent to a foot washing today since we don't do that unless we are getting a pedi and we pay for it? What jobs to we look at as lowly...we are too good for...they are saved for the lesser of society. I am wondering, is mothering one of those jobs? Just the other night someone asked me why I didn't go to the annual Ladies Retreat that our church does. The person went on to comment that they thought I would jump at the chance to 'get away from all those kids.'

I love my kids and enjoy them very much. We are seeing the fruit of our parenting labors more and more often. When they are little your really work the soil of their hearts with much prayer and hope. My thought is this: even in the christian community we value parenting, nurturing, training little. Although it would never be verbalized we say it with comments like the one above. Or how about 'I'd rather shave my eyebrows off than to be with my kids all day', 'Your pregnant again? Don't you know what causes that?' Our society says it is not valuable in how we pay our teachers so little, we want degrees for our girls so they can supports themselves 'just in case'. We complain at the cost of daycare, preschool/private school or lessons. All this to say our children are not worth our money, or at least not much of it.

My husband just finished a huge event at work. There were lots of extra hours logged in and so I was at home a lot with the kids to my self. I pondered my value. Is I am doing enough? It doesn't feel like it. Why is raising my kids not enough? Why do I long to do big things for God when what He has called me to do for now is right at home? Because I don't get dressed in heals to go to work everyday? Is it because there is little recognition? I don't know. Probably some combination of all that. I found myself envious of the woman that was working with my husband on this big event. She did something big with huge results for God. And here I was at home, doing laundry, fixing meals, cleaning faces and bottoms. All in my jeans and t-shirt. God is speaking to me on this. He seems to work in themes in my life and this one has come up several time over the past week or so. I am reading Passionate Housewives Desperate for God. I am just getting started so I will let you know how it is. I also found this last night on youtube. So pause the music on the sidebar and enjoy. PS I love SCC!

3 comments:

Lori said...

jill,
I forget how much you have to sacrifice time with your man so that he can be available to....everybody else!!!!
Thank you for doing so with humility and grace(most of the time) and thank you for how you value not only your children, but mine, as well.
I consider you a Seeker.
You are always seeking God and seeking better ways to serve Him.
You are a blessing to me and I love the sharpening process of our friendship; by the way, I really liked your vest this morning......

Tricia said...

Hi Jill,
I jumped over from Cyndi's blog. Your blog caught my attention because your "About Me" is very similar to mine. I share your thoughts about finding value in raising children. We have 4 that I stay at home with and homeschool (one adopted from China!). I get all kinds of comments like the ones you mentioned. My husband is also in ministry and we LOVE SCC by the way!! We have had the chance to meet him a few times and he is truly an awesome guy.
I often feel like a "fish out of water" in our society. Even in Christian circles. People don't get why we do what we do. Sounds like you get it and I'm looking foward to reading more of your blog! ~Tricia

Sydnie said...

We should be throwing banquets in honor of women every time they walk into the church with 7 (insert number) kids. We shouldn't settle for our for being the dinks. God has called us to be fruitful and multipy. I applaud you Jill and I thank God that you are fulfilling what he has called you to do.