Personal Pondering on Motherhood - Part II

THE MOTHER LOAD
*Personal Pondering on Motherhood - Part II

We live in a day when what you do equals who you are. A woman's worth is determined by the value of her work and the amount she accomplishes. And if your work is constantly unfinished or coming undone, is exhausting or with tangible reward, you question your worth. If your a mother and only mother, society says you don't work. And even if you mother while lawyering, punching numbers, nursing or running a home business, the mothering part of your day isn't valued as "work."
Nope, mothering is not considered a job. It is a biological status. Like womanhood and childhood. You mother. Around the clock. In the wee hours of the night and then again at the carck of dawn. When you are sick and when you are healthy. Whether you feel like it our not. You mother. But society tells you that you don't work as a mother. The task of raising and tending a family is not valued by the world. Nor is mothering valued as a skill. However, check out this classified add! (Could/would you apply?)
WANTED: HOUSEWIFE/MOTHER
Applications are invited for the position of manager to a lively team of demanding individuals.
The successful applicant will be required to perform the following functions: companion, counselor, financial manager, buying officer, teacher, nurse, chef, nutritionist, decoration, cleaner, driver, child care supervisor, social secretary, and recreation officer. Applicants must have unlimited energy and a strong sense of responsibility. They must be independent, self-motivated and able to work in isolation without supervision, able to work under stress, and adaptable enough to handle new developments in the life of the team, including emergencies and crisis. They must be able to communicate with people of all ages, including teachers, doctors, business people, dentist, teenagers and children. A good imagination, sensitivity, warmth and an understanding of people is a must, as the successful application will also be responsible for the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual well-being of the team.

HOURS: All waking moments and a 24 hour shift when necessary

BENEFITS: No guaranteed holidays, no sick leave or maternity leave. No worker's compensation

PAY: None. Allowances by arrangement from time to time with the income-earning member f the team. Successful applicants may be allowed/required to hold second job in addition to the one advertised here.

Although the work schedule for a mother is a bit challenging: twenty-four a day, seven days a week, fifty-two weeks a year, with no weekends or holidays off. Some people would balk at such impossible hours, but not mothers! God has given us an inexplicable strength-strength beyond our own strength-that allows us to tend to the multiple needs and cares of our loved ones. Like the Energizer bunny, mothers keep going and going despite midnight feedings, sleepless slumber parties, overdue science projects, broken curfews and broken hearts.

[We] can do all things through Christ who is our strength.

Philippians 4:13