The Most Important Job in the World

I'm working (at the hospital) three days this week - ick! I mean I like my job (most of the time) but it's making me very tired and very cranky to have to be away from home and my boy. I hate that the housework falls by the wayside (more so than usual!) when I work and the laundry piles up, seemingly taunting me every time I go near the hamper. UGH, hats off to working moms and single moms - it's just plain not for me!

I am so glad I have today off (and by off I mean catching up with my boy, catching up with housework, and smacking some of that sassy laundry around). Seriously, the days off make me appreciate my favorite job, my real job so much more than if I was just home all the time I think. Not to mention it helps the family stay financially afloat. So I know it's a good thing, it's a flexible job and I pretty much get to choose when I work. Not many people can say that! I'm trying to count my blessings.

I think one of the reasons it's hardest for me to work (especially during the week when I have to take Josh to a sitter - who, thankfully, we adore and she adores our boy) is that I don't consider being a hospital social worker my real job. Being a wife and mom is, I believe a very high calling - not everyone is called to it, but those who are - well they are very blessed and very challenged. Challenged to find balance between home and work, challenged to make the home a place of comfort and joy, and challenged to raise up the next generation - our precious children! We are challenged to cultivate a marriage that helps our children to feel safe and secure - and one that brings us closer to God as we become closer to our spouse.

Some friends and I are studying the book of Esther in Bible study right now and the title of the study is: Esther: It's Tough To Be a Woman! Beth Moore is the author - and she's really wonderful. In one of the video portions of the study, Beth read a letter from a woman who discussed why it's tough for her to be a woman. The woman wrote about being a mother and feeling like it can be such a thankless job so much of the time that it didn't seem to her that what she was doing as a mom was a very important job at all.

I have been haunted by hearing that ever since. I felt so bad for that woman, my heart completely went out to her. I came home from Bible study that night and told my husband what she had said and how it stuck with me. I seriously looked at him, with tears in my eyes and said, "Thank you for making me feel like I have the most important job in the world. Thank you for working so hard so that I can do my job well and be here to raise our son."

And he, being the wonderful man he is, looked back at me and said: "You do have the most important job in the world and you are amazing at it."

It was one of those sweet moments where you think to yourself: It seriously doesn't get much better than this.