A Mother’s Most Important Work: There is No Place Like Home
A mother’s most important work takes place within the walls of her own home. Take this experience, for example:
Growing up in a small town, I was your average American kid.
I had everything a young girl could ever want: interesting hobbies, a fun group of friends, and an education (which I didn’t appreciate at the time, but sure do now!)
Oh, and I had my family.
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My Family
The oldest of a clan of siblings, I was often too busy or distracted to devote much time to my brothers and sisters.
My dad worked all day.
My mom stayed at home—always busy in the other room doing something that was of benefit to our family.
Cooking.
Sewing.
Cleaning.
Listening.
Helping.
Loving.
Of course, I was too busy with my own “life” to pay much attention to exactly what it was that she was doing.
I just knew that she was there.
Close by.
In another room.
And that was enough for me.
My Favorite Place on Earth
Fast forward a few decades and I, too, found myself playing the role of mother.
My children have stayed busy over the years with their hobbies, friends, and education, and I’ve witnessed it all from my favorite place on earth—home.
I’ve always understood that a mother’s most important work takes place within the walls of her own home.
I’ve always been a stay-at-home mom.
Up until the day that I wasn’t.
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A Change in Circumstances
Not long ago, a change in our family’s circumstances made it requisite that I return to work. I tried my best to schedule my work hours during the kids’ activities so that they would never have to be alone at home without me. Gratefully, I had much success in doing so.
But still, there are occasional days when they are left on their own.
Sure, it’s become the norm for women to work outside the home, but it nearly broke my heart to have to walk away from my favorite role in life—that of a stay-at-home mom.
“Oh, they’ll be fine,” I told myself, trying to ease the pain. “They’ll be so busy playing and doing chores and homework for the few hours that I’m away that they won’t even miss me.“
After all, my children are growing up and becoming more independent to the point that, when I am at home, they can spend hours in another room “doing their own thing” while I am somewhere else in the house tackling my own “to do” list.
“They don’t show any signs of missing me on THOSE days when we go hours at a time without seeing each other, why would they miss me more just because I am at work?” I reasoned with myself.
These thoughts calmed my troubled heart for months as I dutifully went to work and then returned home to resume my role as mother.
I thought things were going well until, one day, my son said the words I dreaded most.
Not The Same
“I miss you, mom.”
My heart stopped momentarily, and I asked him what he meant. After all, I was sitting right next to him, rubbing his back and having a fun conversation about the events of his day.
“I mean,” he continued, “I miss you when you’re not here…when you’re at work…”.
I blinked back the tears.
“What do you mean you miss me when I’m not here? Don’t you stay busy playing with Legos and doing your chores and homework?” I asked. “Don’t you stay too busy to miss me?”
He looked down at the ground and shrugged.
“It’s just not the same when you’re not here,” he whispered.
And my heart officially broke in two.
More Than Anything Else
What I took for granted as a child—having a mother who was always in the next room—is something that my son desires more than anything else at this time in his life.
It doesn’t matter that he may not see me for hours at a time while his nose is in a book, or while he is playing with Legos. What matters, more than words can express, is that he knows that I’m there, in the next room, being who he needs me to be—his mom.
A Mother’s Place
Mothers, never underestimate the impact you have on your children just by being present in your home.
For those mothers who find themselves in the workplace, I am now one of you.
I have no judgment.
Some women are forced into the workplace; others choose to be there.
Again, no judgment.
My only desire is that we, as mothers, acknowledge the impact our absence in the home has on our children.
Living in denial, as I have done, is not the answer.
As generations before us have proven—a mother’s most important work takes place within the walls of her own home.
Motherhood Quotes
Much has been said on this subject over the years:
“…no universal agent of civilization exists, but through mothers. Nature has placed in their hands, our infancy and youth. I have been among the first to declare the necessity of making them, by improved education, capable of fulfilling their natural mission. The love of God and man, is the basis of this system. In proportion as it prevails, national enmities will disappear, prejudices become extinguished, civilization spread itself far and wide,–one great people cover the earth, and the reign of God be established. This is to be hastened, by the watchful care of mothers over their offspring, from the cradle upwards.” ~ Lydia Sigourney
“The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world.” ~ William Ross Wallace
“We fancy that God can only manage His world with battalions, when all the while he is doing it by beautiful babies. When a wrong wants righting, or a truth needs preaching or a continent needs opening, God sends a baby into the world . . . perhaps in a simple home and of some obscure mother. And then God puts the idea into the mother’s heart, and she puts it into the baby’s mind. And then God waits. The greatest forces in the world are not the earthquakes and thunderbolts. The greatest forces in the world are babies.” –E.T. Sullivan
“If you want to change the world, go home and love your family.” ~ Mother Teresa
“The greatest work we will ever do will be within the walls of our own home.” – David O. McKay
Conclusion
No matter our lot in life, Mothers, even if our current circumstances prevent us from fully living the edict, let us never, ever stop believing that a mother’s most important work takes place within the walls of her own home.
Consider
In what ways has motherhood blessed your life?
What are your favorite quotes on motherhood?
What do you consider to be a mother’s most important work?
Which mother figure has been a positive role model in your life?
Inspiration For Moms
Quotes
These mother quotes from throughout history can inspire you in your God-given calling:
“The mother’s heart is the child’s schoolroom.”
H. W. Beecher
“My mother had a slender, small body, but a large heart–a hear so large that everybody’s grief and everybody’s joy found welcome in it, and hospitable accommodation.”
Mark Twain
“Mothers should cultivate their souls so that in turn they may cultivate the souls of their children.”
Unknown
“Now you are deep in what seems to me a peculiar selfless service. The spiritual training of children must be that. You work for the years you will not see. You work for the Invisible all the time, but you work for the Eternal. So it is all worthwhile.”
Amy Carmichael
“Into the woman’s keeping is committed the destiny of the generations to come after us.”
Theodore Roosevelt
“Mother’s love grows by giving.”
Charles Lamb
““This ability and willingness properly to rear children, the gift to love, and eagerness, yes, longing to express it in soul development, make motherhood the noblest office or calling in the world. She who can paint a masterpiece or write a book that will influence millions deserves the admiration and the plaudits of mankind; but she who rears successfully a family of healthy, beautiful sons and daughters, whose influence will be felt through generations to come, whose immortal souls will exert an influence throughout the ages long after paintings shall have faded, and books and statues shall have decayed or shall have been destroyed, deserves the highest honor that man can give, and the choicest blessings of God. In her high duty and service to humanity, endowing with immortality eternal spirits, she is co-partner with the Creator himself.”
President David O. McKay, (Gospel Ideals, Salt Lake City: Improvement Era, 1953, pp. 453–54.)
Poetry
MOTHER
Sometimes when I get home from school
And mother isn’t there,
And though I know she’ll be back soon and
I don’t really care,
Still all the furniture looks queer,
The house seems hushed and sad:
And then I hear her coming in,
And, oh boy, am I glad!
Esther H. Doolittle
