Sometimes fathers underestimate the value of their role in bringing up their children. Especially so for Christian fathers. Your child is constantly looking at your behaviour, speech and mannerisms from early infancy and all you do and say is moulding him or her into your likeness. Good or bad. The father's role as leader of the home and spiritual guide is so critical to your child's development. For it is through their fathers as well as their mother that they learn. Not only do they learn how to do practical things like filling the car with petrol, but they watch how their father interacts with their mother and other authority figures. It is crucial that children see their father respecting and loving their mother and obeying the laws of God and the land. They will take on board any negativity that you both show such as laziness, bad humour, cussing, lack of interest in spiritual matters and even worldly matters. If you doubt the value of a father's role, take a moment to observe your children at play and note how many times Daddy goes to work, how he drives the car, how he speaks to Mummy and to them! It could come as a shock! If you use bad language in front of your little ones, expect them to repeat it! They hear YOU say it- so then to their minds it is correct and proper grammar! Do not feign ignorance or administer punishment if you are using such language- they are just proving my point! Children are like little sponges and are absorbing everything you both do and say. It is crucial to the child's development that he or she feels loved and accepted by their father. Most of us spend all our lives trying to please Dad- even if he has passed on! The place of father is so much more than being just a bread winner- important and appreciated as much as it is! Your children do not know the value of money as youngsters and a child has no comprehension of being in lack. If they are fed, warm, clean and loved, that is all they know and need. The father's role is important and it influences us right up and through the time that we have children of our own. If you weren't much of a parent to your children, the chances are you won't be much of a grandparent to your grandchildren! And most importantly of all, I feel- the spiritual role of father is terribly important. How they relate to your children will model how they perceive God as Father! You can make or break their trust in God by your parenting! May you look at your role as a father as well as a mother through the eyes of your children, and try to be Christ-like! Your child's eternity depends on it! © Glenys Robyn Hicks 'Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?' Hebrews 12:9 |
Showing posts with label Our Children. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Our Children. Show all posts
Fathers must know!
I refuse to stay in the Pit of Despair!
Depression is often related to one having a sense of loss to something dear to them. In my case I am grieving the loss of my adult children's affection and the feeling that to them I am already dead. I have been tossed out like an old shoe.
Second is the fact that they aren't very nice people and I suspect that one way or the other, I have failed as a mum...
So I had a time of prayer and during that I felt that as far as mothering goes, how they now act as adults is not my fault. I know now that God knows I did bring them all up in the faith and they were taught to be honest and decent people.
I have now decided that I will not stress about not seeing my new great granddaughter or even grandchildren... it is pointless to bond with them when I wont probably see them... I will not waste my last few years waiting for a word from them or even acknowledgement that I exist... if they cared, they would call
So now I am going to move forward and enjoy as much as possible those who do love me and want me in their life...
The hardest lesson I think was to realise that my love for them is not reciprocated and I am not important or valued much in their life at all. It's a bitter pill but once taken, it helps alleviate the grief of unrequited love...
So I am going to move forward and start thinking of positive things, like Chris and those in my family who do love me...
Another lesson was that even though I have no expectation of a relationship and have pulled back to stop hurting, it does not mean I don't love them... it just has to be from afar as they are toxic to me. At this stage of my life, I just need peace. And that doesn't mean I am selfish...
I refuse to stay in the Pit of Despair!
© Glenys Robyn Hicks
Cast me not off in the time of old age; forsake me not when my strength faileth. Psalm 71:9
Not everyone's love has grown cold
The global fertility has dropped and therefore can this be an indication that we are in the end days?
I think yes we are, but we still have to live a godly life and not give in to fear.
This is also because generally self is on the throne and children are not considered a blessing.
For some they are a consequence of biological entrapment and are easily gotten rid of.
People use many reasons as an excuse, but most of them go against what God wants for His people.
Feminism has had a big part in turning people off having children and many women have put off motherhood until too late, to become childless and unhappy women.
There's no finer career than being a full time wife and mother and the usual urge to procreate is God-given and sacred.
This sad world needs babies and pregnancy and breast feeding, and booties and prams. Every child is wanted by God and its birthright is to be loved and later on to love.
As long as this world is turning, babies should be cherished and wanted and rocked and loved. For babies are a Gift from our Creator God.
In truth, it seems that what pleases God these days is disregarded and the evil one is having a field day.
The love of many grows cold and sin is increasing, so it can be a sign that we are nearing the end times..
We need to stand firm in our faith and live our life according to godly principles. Making families and bearing children is something that will please God and be an eternal treasure.
Let's keep on keeping on in trust and faith and invest in eternal treasures. Because even in these end days, not everyone's love has grown cold.
© Glenys Robyn Hicks
“See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is.” Ephesians 5:15-17
I would still sit alone
When I was working in an office about 20 years ago, we would all take our lunch together in the tea room. We ate and chatted and sometimes one particular very self opiniated woman would preside over our talks.
She was very proud of her son who had graduated as a pharmacist and who had his own pharmacy. We saw no harm in that: we would have been proud of his achievements if he was our own son. But one day, she overstepped the mark and upset quite a few women at the table. Myself included.
One of the conversations centred around drug addicts and she declared them all to be a waste of space and definitely would be better off overdosing and dying and getting it over with.
At the time I was a mother of two drug addicted sons who I love dearly and pray for daily with the gut wrenching and desperate prayers that only a mother prays- I took exception to that.
With my stomach turning ill, I picked up my sandwich and took my cup of tea out of the tea room and ate and drank it in my car. She really was too much. I wanted my sons to be delivered and live.
From that day on, I avoided eating my lunch in the tearoom, especially if she was there, but one day I was asked by my boss to make him a coffee, and one of my former lunchtime companions was there.
She asked me directly why I never ate with the women anymore and I told her the truth. I told her that so and so was so hurtful in the things she says and so prideful of her son that she had no consideration that there may be mothers there with prodigal and wayward children who were also drug addicted.
To my surprise, she shared that she too was no longer taking her lunchbreak with so and so because she too had a drug addicted son and it was just too painful to consider that he was better off overdosing.
I said that I was praying for my sons and that I live in fear that they will overdose and I cannot sit and listen to her without feeling sick to the stomach.
She agreed and said that was why she too took her lunchbreak in her car away from her as well. We both agreed that one had to be feeling strong to listen to her raving.
One who doesn't have wayward or prodigal children like so and so had, can not imagine the constant fear when the phone rings that it will be news that her child has indeed overdosed. It gnaws at a mother's heart constantly.
As a Christian, all life is precious and all drug addicts have been enticed by carnal desires and instant gratification and this is something that is very hard to break from. Even with the LORD. Such is the hold from drugs that many have succumbed to their addiction praying for deliverence. And they are saved. They are, because Jesus died for our past, present and future sin. And addiction is sin.
There is hope in Christ and today one of my sons has broken from addiction and can testify that God heard my prayers. I continue to pray for the other who battles with it even while loving the LORD.
To tell me that either of these sons or even your son or daughter who battles drug or alcohol addictions is better off dead is evil. It limits God's ability to heal and deliver us and negates His Blood, and sees only successful humans as worthy of that. None of us are worthy but are sinners saved by Grace.
Nothing has changed my mind about her and people like her: if I turned back the clock, I would still sit alone.
© Glenys Robyn Hicks
For if we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s. Romans 14:8
When Christ comes back.
It's Christmas Eve here and I was resting between chores thinking that I don't feel very festive. And as the random thoughts came, I realised that I am not alone...
The birth of Christ is a holy time sometimes celebrated with lights on trees and pretty baubles. Presents adorn the floor around the tree and a feeling of hope, and expectation fills the air.
Carols are a lovely way to thrill the soul and worship the Christ Child, and since Covid, this is mainly from computers, CD's and so on. Carollers are for the most, a thing of the past.
A lot of people perpetuate Saint Nicholas' legacy by telling their children that Santa Claus is coming and for them, Christmas takes on a magical quality.
Sadly for me, my children and even grandchildren are grown. With that childlike expectancy of gifts and new toys now gone, a lot of the fun of the season is gone with it. I miss it.
Obviously I find my joy in the Gift of Christ our Redeemer, and I am truly grateful- not only at Christmas, but all through the year. But those who are now missing the joy of children at Christmas will know what I mean.
And I don't believe I am the only one noticing a lack of festive joy this year. The shops are visited by people with tense, even grim expressions and scarcely one person wishes another a Merry Christmas! It is understandable. The last few years have been difficult to say the least. Stress is rampant.
I think now it is more important than ever to remember the reason for the season. The King of glory came as an infant, born in a stable and given a manger for a crib. But the most wondrous thing of all is that this Baby was born to bring hope and joy to a lost mankind.
As mankind struggles to celebrate- truly celebrate- Christmas, and as world events worsen, I want that childlike faith and joy to come back. But I truly believe it will only come back when Christ comes back to take us believers Home.
© Glenys Robyn Hicks
Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift! 2 Corinthians 9:15
There are no unwanted children in God’s sight
How many times have we heard disbelief and dismay of relatives and friends when it is discovered that a new life is on the way? And worse still, how many people have (hopefully only for a moment), thought or worse still, actually voiced that they may very well terminate it? It’s a fact that quite a large percentage of babies weren’t actually planned, but that is only in our thinking. There are no accidents or unwanted children in God’s sight.
Do you know that God blesses us with conception and withholds conception as a punishment?
And again when the house of Abimelech had Sarah, Abraham’s wife in his harem posing as Abraham’s sister, God closed all the wombs in the palace. That was how Abimelech knew something was amiss in his house! Why? Because the blessing of conception was withheld!
God has formed us in the secret place and knits our bodies together.
We are all unique- even identical twins are not identical in every sense. Each person conceived is special in the LORD’S sight! How it must grieve Him when we express shock and dismay at His wonderful gift of conception!
The godly woman will understand that she is being blessed when she discovers a new life is coming- she will welcome children as a gift from the LORD.
But the ungodly often will react quite differently, spurning the blessing and often taking means to reject it! My heart grieves for those blessings disposed of heartlessly when many a woman desperate for a child would be more than willing to bring it up.
God has a purpose and plan for our lives- even known before we are born. To reject the great gift of conception is to reject one of the greatest gifts and blessings that God can bestow on us. For although a child may not fit in with our plans, God can undertake to provide both materially and emotionally for that child. There are absolutely no accidents, no mistakes in timing, no inconveniences in God’s plan!
I have seen women who vowed to reject the gift of conception by terminating it, bond so intensely with the child when it is in their arms, that they give praise to God for the “inconvenience” and bless Him for their child. I also have known countless couples reject their gift of conception by submitting to sterilisation- only to regret it at a later date. Often a reversal does not repair that which was “fixed” when it was not broken. They pay a high price often, for trying to play a role of life-giver or rejecter- a role that is God’s alone!
How precious indeed is the gift of a child, and indeed the gift of conception. May we never take this gift lightly, or reject it or be dismayed! God’s plans and thoughts are so much higher than ours! Jer 29:11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.
For God, there are no unwanted children. If only all people would understand that! © Glenys Robyn Hicks |
It's all good
Just a quick recap of the five areas of service for the Christian woman and wife in order of priority:
- God
- Husband
- Children
- Home
- Church
We must serve God and have Him first in our life. "He hath shewed thee, O man, what [is] good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?" Micah 6:8
Because everything is spiritual in our life, I have discovered that when we serve our husbands, we are serving Christ. " Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as is fit in the Lord " Colossians 3:18 "For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband: else were your children unclean; but now are they holy" 1 Corinthians 7:14
When we look after our home, we are serving God, our husband and our children. "I will therefore that the younger women marry, bear children, guide the house, give none occasion to the adversary to speak reproachfully." 1 Timothy 5:14
Serving in church or serving in God's Name is important but should not come before all the other 4 priorities are in order. (widows) " well reported of for good works; if she have brought up children, if she have lodged strangers, if she have washed the saints' feet, if she have relieved the afflicted, if she have diligently followed every good work" 1 Timothy 5:10
I have found that often I cannot place a post under just one category because it is so closely correlated to the other categories of service. This is because everything in our lives is spiritual. When we consider the umbrella of God's protection as well, we can see that God's plan for our lives is amazing. We have everything here to guide us as wives, mothers and homemakers. We can be sure that we are living our lives in a way that is pleasing to God and in keeping with His Word.
It is not only comforting to know that God's Word guides us in our daily living, but it is also amazing that we can know with a certainty that God not only approves of us being wives, mothers and homemakers, but that He calls most of us to be that!
If God has called us to be a wife with all that entails, then let us rejoice in His plan for our life. In doing so, we can be partners with God in His greatest creation: people who will love Him and live for eternity with Him! And we will live an abundant life full of blessings as Christ has promised.
© Glenys Robyn Hicks
Because everything is spiritual in our life, I have discovered that when we serve our husbands, we are serving Christ. " Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as is fit in the Lord " Colossians 3:18 "For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband: else were your children unclean; but now are they holy" 1 Corinthians 7:14
When we look after our home, we are serving God, our husband and our children. "I will therefore that the younger women marry, bear children, guide the house, give none occasion to the adversary to speak reproachfully." 1 Timothy 5:14
Serving in church or serving in God's Name is important but should not come before all the other 4 priorities are in order. (widows) " well reported of for good works; if she have brought up children, if she have lodged strangers, if she have washed the saints' feet, if she have relieved the afflicted, if she have diligently followed every good work" 1 Timothy 5:10
I have found that often I cannot place a post under just one category because it is so closely correlated to the other categories of service. This is because everything in our lives is spiritual. When we consider the umbrella of God's protection as well, we can see that God's plan for our lives is amazing. We have everything here to guide us as wives, mothers and homemakers. We can be sure that we are living our lives in a way that is pleasing to God and in keeping with His Word.
It is not only comforting to know that God's Word guides us in our daily living, but it is also amazing that we can know with a certainty that God not only approves of us being wives, mothers and homemakers, but that He calls most of us to be that!
If God has called us to be a wife with all that entails, then let us rejoice in His plan for our life. In doing so, we can be partners with God in His greatest creation: people who will love Him and live for eternity with Him! And we will live an abundant life full of blessings as Christ has promised.
© Glenys Robyn Hicks
Don't feel guilty for being a woman
As a friend of mine said, women are made to feel so guilty for being women- wanting to marry, stay home and keep house and mother our children! We have nothing to thank the feminist movement for. .. our identity as women has been trampled on and we who wish to stay at home have had that dream sullied by strident women who have penis envy!
We women are created to nurture. It is in our nature to pick up a dolly and embrace her from the time we can grasp her and bring her to our chest and lips... it is entirely natural for us to offer that dolly sustenance from a toy bottle or even our breast, in imitation of our mothers feeding younger siblings...
How many of us have received a cup of tea from tiny teacups, sipping it slowly to delight our little hostesses who are still too young to be entrusted with real teapots and teacups? Or watched the toddler girl trying to tuck her baby into her tiny dolly's pram, covering its head completely and far too young to really tuck her in? -yet her tenderness and concern is charming to watch...
Now the feminists try to tell us that we are responsible for training our daughters to become servile, and meek and weak, forcing them into a life of subservience that thwarts their potential both personally and financially. It is easy to see that the majority of these feminists have not mothered sons who will toddle up to a dolly and proceed to poke at her eyes and twist her joints and disrobe her in an attempt to see how she works... his interest is one of inquisitiveness.... he too is doing what comes naturally to him. Working things out in a practical way...
Feminists have been instrumental in promoting contraception and abortion on demand. They have stolen a lot of women's dreams of being mothers and have often lied to them about consequences that they say are detrimental to them- mostly career achievements that in the end leave them with empty arms and ashes in their mouth.
Even the married woman is convinced that her desire to be a mother is misplaced, especially if her desire is for a large family, and sadly even in some churches, this is seen to be an ambition that is frowned upon. Yet God Himself has placed the desire to bear children and to bring children up, in our hearts. Yet many feel guilty that they have these desires.... desires which are God given and good.
What God considers of great importance, creating a happy home for the raising of children unto Him, with the blessing of marriage and a committed father, is being destroyed by feminists who are often self-proclaimed lesbian man-haters... women who see marriage as a male invention of tyranny and control, and pregnancy as the undesirable biological entrapment of their gender...
From an early age a little girl will often be fascinated by brides and all the trimmings of a wedding, and again this is natural. Yet feminists have now managed to influence girls to delay getting married or to cohabit without expecting or even wanting to be married, and again we find the women of today who secretly long to be married feeling guilty for desiring something that really is their birthright as women. Feminism has taken away that which is precious to our identity as women- being a wife and enjoying the security and esteem that being married brings to a woman who loves her man...
Whilst some feminists did marry and have children, most divorced as their feminist ways weren't conducive to a happy marriage. Still others cohabited but remained voluntarily childless... many took lesbian lovers..
Now not everyone is called to be married and mothers, but these feminist women have so trampled on our natural identity as women that young women and girls are feeling guilty for being women! They are so confused with what they want in life that they are not only guilty that they want marriage, home and children but that they are also afraid. They are often forced to excel at school and university in order to provide for themselves, and are often in the position of finding out that even though they do now want marriage and motherhood, that they have left their run too late.
Thanks to feminism making women guilty and afraid of their womanhood, many women who in the natural scheme of things, should already be wives and mothers, are doomed to remain single. Or, hearing the biological clock ticking, they find their only option to at least become mothers limited to a one night stand or artificial insemination.... hardly ideal for the foundation of a new family...
I know this is true because I have an acquaintance who has fallen for the feminists' lies and who now has found herself in exactly that position.... we are waiting to see how she approaches being childless, which incidentally happened to Germaine Greer after she discovered she did in fact want a child but was unable to have one....
All this feminist clap-trap has done nothing for womankind but heap coals of fire on young women's heads. What should be a natural God-given course of life for a woman has been thwarted and defiled... Countless women have actually become victims of feminists' lies and are destined to live out lonely sad lives... lives rich in worldly possessions but poor in those things of eternal value.
I am sorry for the young women today who feel guilty for being a woman.... I pray that they will come to realise that they are victims of feminist women who tried to liberate them from the good things God had for them, but who instead bound them up in chains of regret and longings that they will have to endure for the rest of their lonely lives...
Please ladies, don't let feminists make you feel guilty for being a woman...
© Glenys Robyn Hicks
He maketh the barren woman to keep house, [and to be] a joyful mother of children. Praise ye the LORD. Psalm 113:9
Soul mates for life
Most of us married people want to be happy in our marriage. We want it to last forever and we want our husband to be happy. A big part of a man's happiness involves how loved, respected and appreciated he feels. So how do we make him feel that?
With Chris, he appreciates me listening to him and giving him my full attention. So when he talks to me about things that I have no interest in like cars and motorbikes and so on, I make myself listen and interact with him. This is a real test of my patience for me because we are together 24/7 every day of the year.
He doesn't help me much in the home because of his own health issues, so when he does, I thank him sincerely. Usually I give him a kiss as well because his love language is touch. Fortunately mine is as well.
I think honest appreciation and praise help build a man's esteem and I often tell Chris what I love about him and we celebrate little anniversaries of events like when we got engaged, our first kiss and so on. It keeps our love alive.
Although once I said that Chris is a good man but a horrible patient, I don't bag him to others- especially family. I think that is something that a lot of married people do and it makes a man feel anything but appreciated and respected.
Like most people if they are honest, we have had an occasional fight, but generally I would say that we both feel respected, appreciated and loved.
On the private side of marriage, I feel it's important to be affectionate and responsive to your husband and never belittle him if he truly isn't a Don Juon.
In regards to parenting, I believe a man can be shot down in flames in front of his children if we are not united in front of them. Respect and appreciation is necessary so as not to usurp his authority as a father and leader of the home.
A man's provision for his family should never be called into question. He is usually spinning his wheel as fast as he can at work and we should never belittle him or grumble about how much other men are earning more than him.
One should never emasculate one's husband by suggesting he "get a real job" when he is toiling at a job that some consider beneath them.
We must show our appreciation and respect of him as bread winner by supporting him in whatever line of work he's in. Respect and appreciation make a man feel loved.
It is within a wife's power to keep a man happy and feeling respected and appreciated. Any man can be married, but not happy. Make sure your husband a happily married man so that you will be soul mates for life.
© Glenys Robyn Hicks
For in this manner, in former times, the holy women who trusted in God also adorned themselves, being submissive to their own husbands, as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord, whose daughters you are if you do good and are not afraid with any terror. 1 Peter 3:5-6
Loving all creatures.
Over the years I have come to believe that a lot can be gleaned about a person's character by the way they treat animals.
Without fail, I have observed that people who are kind to animals are tender hearted and usually are kind and fair with their dealings with people.
Conversely, those who are cruel or unkind to animals treat people in like manner.
Indeed, I have seen this in my own family, starting with my ex-husband who was a particularly cruel man.
He was very cruel to animals and treated me badly in our 25 year marriage. So much so, that I was forced to leave him to save myself.
His legacy was handed down to my first two children who have a dislike of animals, but are not cruel to them. They treat people around them with indifference and dislike generally as well.
My last two children not only are kind to animals, but actually dote on them. Their treatment of people generally is kind and fair.
Sadly, it has been noted by forensic scientists and so on that people who are cruel or kill animals eventually kill people.
Whenever I see people loving their pets or animals, I feel an affinity with them. After all, gentleness and kindness are fruits of the Spirit. I can be pretty sure that they would be nice people to know and would treat me with equity and fairness. I am rarely wrong.
God created animals for man to have dominion over, but as we see in Judaic Laws, they are to be treated humanely and compassionately at all times. Even when slaughtering them for food, it has to be killed with one smooth cut which is supposedly painless. Kosher.
It is said that animals and children are good judges of character, and I think there's a lot of truth in that. A character that is appalled at cruelty will be loving and gentle and one who does not care will not. Certainly, as born-again Christians, we should treat all living things well as they firstly belong to the LORD.
Test me and see if I am right by observing this for yourself. It is a useful tool to help in judging whether you can trust a person in daily life or not..as well as their walk with the LORD. We should be loving all creatures.
© Glenys Robyn Hicks
Proverbs 12:10 “Whoever is righteous has regard for the life of his beast, but the mercy of the wicked is cruel.”
Peaceful home making
Can you imagine living in a world where it is still acceptable to stay home with your children, serve your husband, and dare I say it - keep your home? Where marriage, home and motherhood are held in high esteem and the women caring for their families are blessed by and for their efforts? Picture the scene of past eras wherein a young woman usually left the workforce after marriage to serve her husband and keep her home and await the arrival of her children. She was not looked down on at all, rather the role of wife/mother/homemaker was elevated into something to aspire to. For it is an honourable calling.
We all know that the disdain we stay at home wives and mothers feel today from the world (and even some churches) is contrary to the scriptural role, and we know that it wasn't always so. And as more and more women are pressured into having less children and putting their babies into day centres, a lot of women are feeling cheated and discontented. If the truth was told, I truly believe that most of the women in the workforce today would prefer to be at home having more babies and loving their life! Why isn't it like this today?
Firstly, I believe a lot of women have bought the lie of feminism. We have been buffeted about and overloaded with so much of their rhetoric that we have slowly come to accept a great deal of what they say. Bowing under the pressure of the world, we have become discontented with our God-given role as wife/mother and keeper of our home.
Secondly, I believe women have generally been so highly educated that they are afraid that they will waste it by staying home. I think nothing could be further from the truth. All education is profitable for a woman- especially if she plans to home school her children. This is slowly gaining popularity in Australia, though nowhere near as much as in the States. But the point I am making is that as mothers, we are teachers. Our knowledge will only serve to benefit our family. And make us more interesting to our husbands.
Thirdly, I think in general we have set our sights on worldly things- the biggest home, cars, furnishings, designer clothing and expensive holidays etc. We have been sucked into the worship of the ravenous god of materialism and commercialism. Homemade is no longer good enough, home cooked is often a rarity, home keeping is a rushed chore and a burden- yet even so, home still is the sweetest place to be and always beckons us back. Are working mothers really getting value for their money? No! By the time we add up the work clothes, gas and fares for getting to and from work, the bought lunches, the more expensive packaged foods for faster meals, and last but in no way, least- the childcare centre, we have very little money available for spending. Are we starting to feel a little bit disillusioned? I would guess: yes a tad!
Now I am not naive: I know about mortgages, or renting, I know how hard it is to keep food on the table and clothes on the family's back- but what I know too is that a lot of extraneous spending could be curtailed and it would be far more profitable to stay at home. I know this, because as have previously shared- I did it for a while. It is more profitable not to work outside the home. And infinitely more satisfying for the whole family.
Frugality, budgeting, and cutting one's cloth according to income are not dirty words: they are words of life- family life. With a bit of planning and foresight, I believe a lot of women would be able to stay home and not suffer for it. The tools are planning, budgeting, frugality, wisdom and desire. I believe it is possible still today to manage on one man's wage- if we learn to be content with what we have or to downsize to make staying home with the children feasible. It is a heart issue.
So back to imagination: can you imagine rising and getting your husband off to work, having made him a leisurely breakfast and a cut lunch, guiding your children through bathing, dressing and breakfast in a calm manner, filling them with the best of breakfasts, then homeschooling or sending them to school with a nutritious packed lunch? No frantic last-minute hunt for lost notebooks or library books-or hearing your child read whilst you are hurriedly applying your makeup for work? Or worse still, from the other side of the bathroom door? No, you have had plenty of time last night to do these things and to be organised for the early morning rush. You are looking well to the ways of your own household.
As soon as the children are at school or setting about their lessons at home, you start to work your way through your chores, making beds and doing laundry whilst the crockpot bubbles away with some soup for lunch and the meat defrosts for the evening meal. You know exactly what you are having: you made your menu and shopping list and you are in control! Doesn't it feel good? Tonight when your husband gets home from work, you will be there to greet him with the children working steadily at their homework and the table set and dinner's delicious aroma wafting through the house to welcome him home. And if Dad works late shift, the children will at least get to see him at breakfast instead of being dragged out of their bed at some early hour to go to daycare.
Imagine if this was a reality in your life- would you want it? Thousands of women are turning their back on materialism, small families and feministic ideals and are turning back to God's Word for their lives and families. They are coping and they are gaining strength as a force that is pro-life, pro-family and pro-marriage. Their children are reaping the benefits of having a full-time mother who fills their world with soundness in a world she knows is anything but.
What is the future for the stay-at home mother? I believe job satisfaction: the knowledge that because she has applied herself to live her life according to godly principles and used wisdom, frugality and ingenuity in order to do it. Her marriage is stronger, her children happier and her home easier to manage. She knows that she is really free at last to be all God created her to be- a loving wife, mother and keeper of her home. And she rejoices at the days to come. Her husband is well looked after and well loved, as are her children. She doesn't worry what the world thinks about her life choices- she is following God's plan for her life. And her life is good- for all God's ways are good.
Imagine if all married women vetoed the work force, applied themselves to living frugally and returned home as stay at home wives and mothers…I imagine a lot of people would return to peaceful home making.
© Glenys Robyn Hicks
"I will therefore that the younger women marry, bear children, guide the house, give none occasion to the adversary to speak reproachfully." 1 Timothy 5:14
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