Motherhood: A Career

A Fulfilling Career: Motherhood

I can picture myself right now crossing my arms and squirming angrily as I sit through yet another lesson about my role as a woman during church meetings. After church, I stomp into the house in a huff while my mom is humming a hymn and making lunch. "Did you have a hard day at church?" she asks. I then go on a rant about how women should be able to have careers and that I'm not going to "just" be a stay-at-home mom when I grow up.


Wow. If I could go back to those times and put myself in timeout, I would. I can't imagine how much it hurt my mother to be so against being "just" (big quotation marks) a homemaker. She quietly took my criticism of the whole thing and continued loving me. She probably knew that one day the Lord would smack some sense into me.

I was raised in the most wonderful parental situation possible for me. My dad worked and my mom
stayed at home with us. But did I appreciate her? Not hardly enough. Mom cooked, cleaned, taxied, and cuddled. She phoned, shopped, weeded, and washed. She edited my English papers, helped with science projects, decorated the home, helped my brother learn Chinese, and sewed Halloween costumes. And even now, I'm 1600 miles away and she sends me letters, packages, and most importantly prayers. Now who said being a stay-at-home mom wasn't a career? Well despite my own mom working 9 bazillion hours at home, I had convinced myself I wanted a "real career",    whatever that was.


"Beware of the subtle ways Satan employs to take you from the plan of God and true happiness. One of Satan's most effective approaches is to demean the role of wife and mother in the home. This is an attack at the very heart of God's plan to foster love between husband and wife and to nurture children in an atmosphere of understanding, peace, appreciation, and support. Much of the violence that is rampant in the world today is the harvest of weakened homes. Government and social plans will not effectively correct that, nor can the best efforts of schools and churches fully compensate for the absence of the tender care of a compassionate mother and wife in the home." -Richard G. Scott

D. Todd Christofferson hit the nail on the head concerning this area during this last session of General Conference. He focused on motherhood and how the woman's influence is most greatly felt in the home. And if women want to change the world and impact it, the place you could leave the most lasting effect and impression is in your home.

"A pernicious philosophy that undermines women’s moral influence is the devaluation of marriage and of motherhood and homemaking as a career. Some view homemaking with outright contempt, arguing it demeans women and that the relentless demands of raising children are a form of exploitation. They ridicule what they call “the mommy track” as a career. This is not fair or right. We do not diminish the value of what women or men achieve in any worthy endeavor or career—we all benefit from those achievements—but we still recognize there is not a higher good than motherhood and fatherhood in marriage. There is no superior career, and no amount of money, authority, or public acclaim can exceed the ultimate rewards of family. Whatever else a woman may accomplish, her moral influence is no more optimally employed than here."

Mommies, mommas, moms, mums, mommasitas, and all other mother figures around; listen up. God has put you on this earth to raise the next generation of righteous, healthy, and kind leaders in the world and church. This is our most important and fulfilling job. So don't you ever feel degraded by the title "homemaker." That should be a compliment! It means that you spend 24/7 devoted to your family and that you are using everything you've learned, daily in your career of raising little ones. An overwhelming job, yes. But one with the most incredible and long lasting results. As long as you have the Lord with you, you will make miracles!

I love my mom so incredibly much. She's the one that gets me through every day, even when I'm away from her. I'm so grateful that she's given her whole life to us and that she was there every day when I got home from school, with open arms and a loving smile. Even when she got out the "black bag" and threw away stuff that I left out.... (thanks a lot mom) I loved her for caring about me and wanting to teach me. I know that she was able to do everything in our family because she put the Lord first. Thank you mom, for raising me with the gospel. I love you till the numbers stop.

http://www.lds.org/general-conference/print/2013/10/the-moral-force-of-women?lang=eng