No Lifetime Achievement Awards For Stay Home Moms

"Arise, cry aloud in the night At the beginning of the night watches; Pour out your heart like water Before the presence of the Lord; Lift up your hands to Him For the life of your little ones Who are faint because of hunger At the head of every street." Lamentations 2:19

Recently I attended my college Homecoming and Alumni Awards Luncheon.During this luncheon four graduates received Lifetime Achievement Awards and one received a Young Alumni Achievement Award. This got me to thinking I was never going to receive one as I did not go out and invent something or get my doctorate at Harvard. It did not bother me though at all. I just realized then, that a stay home mom would not ever be considered for a Lifetime Award from their alma mater. It does not seem important enough to the committees who make the final selection.

If you are a stay home mom now or used to be, do not put yourself down or wish you could be out in the corporate world so you keep up with your degree and can get rehired someday. If you are reading this and chose to return to work I am not trying to guilt you either. Everyone has their reasons. My point is that God gave women a role to fulfill as wife and to some mothers. It is not old fashioned or sexist in the least. I have been very fortunate to have tasted a bit of the career world. I got out of the Army by choice to start a family and hopefully be a stay home mom. I was blessed and fortunate to do so thanks to the hard work and support of my husband of nearly 38 years. At first I was thinking I had to go back to work but could not come to peace with it when I looked at my new born son. 

We are given our children only for a very short time although at times it seems like it is forever. Moms have the opportunity to impact their children and build their values into them. This does not mean everything always turns out perfect but it sure helps to know that you control their environment to some sort extent while they are under your roof.  If you are contemplating what to do about re entering the work force or quitting and coming back to raise your children, by all means pray and God will give you peace as your honor Him. 

PRAYER: Thanks Lord for moms. Both moms who choose to work for pay and those who stay home, impact their child's world. Give wisdom to moms about who should raise their children and help families not put the woman to work just to live a more glamorous life. In Jesus' name. Amen.

Resources for Moms:

Mothers of Preschoolers(MOPS) www.mops.org

Moms in Prayer International www.momsinprayerinternational.orgd

Rock the Cradle and Rule the World

For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. Psalm 139:13

There is a saying "The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world". Bear with me male readers for a moment, but this is true. This most important job is often degraded as meaningless to the point mothers feel they have to stay in the professional world to gain self esteem and feel worthy. Well young mothers out there, your job is the most important!  You are raising future leaders of this world of ours. You have a window of opportunity to raise and teach them the things of the Lord as well. These little blessings will only be around a very short time. There are some grandmas who have been tasked with being "moms" and what a awesome responsibility they have as well.

Do not ever feel that you have to be out in the corporate world because you feel it looks so exciting compared to what you do at home with dirty diapers and potty training.  All those little things add up and impact this little human under your care. This is not to say that everything will turn out perfect as children have a free will too but what you do will impact them immensely in years to come. 

Remember Proverbs 22:6 says "Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it." That my friend is a promise you can believe in.

PRAYER: Thank you Lord for the gift of children. Thank you for giving us what it takes to raise them up for you. We hold on to hope that they will always love and serve you. In Jesus' name. Amen. 

Note: Do yourself a favor and go see an awesome family Christian comet which has been out since Mother's Day weekend. It is called 'Mom's Night Out'! http://momsnightoutmovie.com

Also two awesome ministries for moms to get involved in would be during the preschool years Mothers of Preschoolers found out www.mops.org and later for kindergarten and beyond is Moms in Prayer International formerly Moms in Touch with info found out www.momsinprayer.org.