Right now I'm reading the book Radical Womanhood: Feminine Faith in a Feminist World by Carolyn McCulley. The book outlines how feminism has touched everything we believe about being women. The two chapters I've read discuss the evolution of the American home and the never-ending debate between stay-at-home mothers and working-outside-of-the home mothers. Carolyn quotes feminist author Linda Hirshman, a proponent of women working outside the home: "Bounding home is not good for women and it's not good for the society. The women aren't using their capacities fully...their talent and education are lost from the public world to the private world of laundry and kissing boo-boo's." Ouch!
This morning I learned something about this "private world" in which I live. A private, tiny world, in our tiny colorful apartment. We were coloring together, and she told me, "Mommy, you can't touch that. Don't do that!" This is our latest discipline issue: telling Mommy and Daddy what to do. It's a biggie. I explained to Grace that God gave me a "big" job. Now, I don't expect Grace to understand what authority is, but I do use big words with her. "Mommy is your authority. You must obey Mommy. Please do not use angry words." Later, I said, "Sweetie, why should we use kind words with each other?" She replied, "Because JESUS loves us!" I gave her a huge squeeze. "Yes! That's right. Because Jesus loves us, we should love each other, and use kind words." We had this conversation in my bedroom, which is currently trashed, laundry piled all over the bed, too many clothes on the floor - which reminded me of that quote.
I don't expect that my almost 3 year old truly understands that she is a sinner in need of Jesus' forgiveness, but I do want to be faithful to try to prepare her heart to understand it when she's older. It takes a lot of faith.
So, maybe I am spending all my energy and talent in this private world, but I am thankful I get to do it. And I'm really thankful that I'm not doing it in my own strength, because I got nothin.
In Grace's own words: "On Christ the solid Rock I stand, all other ground is stinky sand, all other ground is stinky sand."
