This week's verse (She girds herself with strength, and strengthens her arms) leads my mind in a million different directions and Kristen's notes covered a lot of them about the woman being willing to work hard for her family and preparing herself to be able to handle the hard work.
What I appreciated most about her blog were the comments on being a Stay-At-Home-Mom. I have a very time consuming job that I absolutley love (well, most of the time anyway) and had never considered it not being part of my life. I've been involved with this field since I was in junior high and as I grew and transitioned into different parts of my life, that aspect of life has grown right along with it. I've gone from being a participant to a volunteer to an event coordinator, back down to intern/student worker, to planner and now to Program Manager. I love that I get to work with students across the state to make improvements in their school or community. I love that I get to teach and train them to be leaders in creating positive, sustainable change and give them the tools they need to succeed. And I never planned on giving it up.
When the movie "When In Rome" came out (not a fantastic movie, but it had a few cute moments) I really related with the career-driven, self-sufficient, independent main character but one of her comments really stuck with me: "When I find a guy I like more than my job, then I'll do something about it." That got me thinking because my job (in my mind anyway) would be really hard to compete with and that's caused problems for me in past relationships. It's been part of my life for 13 years, longer than most of the people that are in my life right now. That's hard to fight against.
But lately, I've seen more and more the amount of time that it takes to be a wife and a mother. As I watch my friends get married and have kids and as I learn from the ladies in our local congregation, my eyes have been opened to the commitment that it truly is. I have a HUGE amount of respect for the ladies who are SAHM. HUGE. I also have a hard time reconciling that with my life. Maybe because it's not something I've had to truly consider. Maybe because I haven't found anything or anyone to pull me away from my job. Maybe I'm just too blinded by where I'm at to consider anything else about my future. But I know that I need to be prepared to work just as hard for my family and be just as willing to cling to them as I have to this job.
Lots for me to consider and think about.
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