I enjoyed this post by Lydia Sherman. She quotes a letter she received from someone which says, among other things:
...I
remember when I first started to read blogs written by ladies filled
with delightful inspirational articles on homemaking and homeschooling
and encouragement to live a sweet, contented Godly life as
sisters-in-the-LORD...
... However,
I don't feel so much at home anymore because the ladies who author
those sites have turned their blogs and websites into a money making
business. And to top it off some of the ladies who started out
encouraging other ladies to "come home" from their jobs downtown to
learn contentment in homemaking, relying on God's means of provision
through their husbands - Now those same ladies are tutoring other ladies
on how to make an income through blog writing.
Blogging can be a creative outlet or a ministry, but blogging full-time to make money is hardly different from holding a regular job, imo. The lady further comments on the (in)famous Proverbs 31 woman:
It
is true that the ideal woman described in Proverbs 31 is a shrewd
industrious woman who re-invests her husband's capital to make a profit,
but I believe she acted more as a steward of her husband's provision
than the women in the church today who work to bring in a second income
to add to their husband's provision.
My thoughts, exactly. What is more, while there are some very talented ladies out there who have found their corner of the market and are able to earn considerable sums, for most of "home business" owners, it costs a lot of time and sometimes money (earned by their husbands) and brings very meagre results, but hey, at least, they aren't just some dumb housewife like the woman next door, they are entrepreneurs!!!
The letter continues:
The
resulting message of all this is confusing to our daughters and
granddaughters because we tell them to come home and focus on homemaking
and then we set before them examples of homeschooling moms who are
making thousands of dollars on their computers. The only thing we've
done is to change the geographical location of their work desk from
downtown to their office at home.
Again, there is something which many folks apparently don't understand: you can't physically and mentally be in two places simultaneously. If you spend most of your time behind your desk in your "home office" it doesn't count as running a household. If you provide a daycare at home, you aren't busy being a homemaker (and you encourage other mothers to work). All these things are probably better than working outside home every day, and could be a compromise if money is tight or some emergency arise but it's not an ideal situation by any means.
Because, as the lady who wrote the letter so rightly notices:
Their
attention is divided and they certainly aren't learning contentment and
how to trust in God's means of provision through their husbands.
I''d say amen to that.
Amen!
ReplyDeleteBlessings
Mrs.O
Mrs.O, thanks! I think Lydia also does a very good job explaining how the web advertising works.
ReplyDeleteI loved this post and it's so very true. People also just simply don't understand why I've been at home all these years. They don't get it. But I've noticed that a lot of men still do. The only men I've known who didn't understand were young men (like early 20s) or they were the fruitcake type of men.
ReplyDeleteIt's sad that homemaking is in such disregard nowadays. Few things are more important than hearth and home. Corporations and consumerism certainly are not.
ReplyDelete