Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Prosperity of the Nation

"Neither woman nor the nation can afford to have home demoralized or in any way deteriorated by the loss of her presence, or the lessening of her influence there.  As a nation we rise or fall as the character of our homes, presided over by woman, rises or falls; and the best gauge of our best prosperity is to be found in the measure by which these homes find multiplication in the land."  Dr. J.G. Holland


Over the last weeks, I have heard so many debates over the prosperity of our nation and our economic stability crashing down around us.  I become so disheartened and worry about the nation I will grow old in and the will hand to my children.  The burden we are trying to swim with upon our backs may in fact cause our children to know that "sinking feeling".   America is scrambling to find answers to our current economic crisis and "the people" are turning to the government to find our answers and find ourselves confused and feeling let down.

Maybe the key is to stop looking toward the government to solve this problem and to instead turn our minds and hearts back towards our families.  Can we truly be surprised to see our government teetering on the edge of financial collapse when we are watching the fabrics of our homes unravel? 

I grew up in the public schools and heard throughout my high school years that my worth would be decided by what I was doing outside of the home.  My contribution outside the home was worth far more than what I would be doing inside it.  It was preached that the norm was to have 2.5 kids and that there was nothing redeeming about staying at home.  I even had a teacher be so bold as to tell us that there was something wrong with the woman that wanted to be at home with her children.  You know what?  I bought it.  I spent years making fun of women that stayed at home.  I was critical of men that wanted their wives at home (wanted...not forced) raising their children.  I feared the idea of having a large family and found large families to be lacking in wisdom of choice.  I had nothing to gauge these messages against.  The women I knew worked by choice or because they felt they had no other choice.  I didn't know anyone that wanted to be home and strove with her husband to make that her reality.  I scoffed at women who came home to work out of the home.  It was not a heart attitude that I am proud of.  Yet, it reflected what we were being taught and now we are seeing this mind set and heart condition reflected back at us by the state of our nation. 

We have left our children to be influenced by others.  We have given the moral, spiritual and educational control over to outsiders and have lessened our own influence.  The importance of mothers was reduced and we are seeing the fruit of this mindset in every avenue of our lives and it is far reaching...all the way to the leaders of our nation and the decisions they are making based on what they believe are best for the rest of us.

The Lord has turned my heart and mind towards my children and family.  I have learned that there is no shame in being a mother or in staying at home.  I have learned that there will be no higher calling on my life than to help raise and form the future leaders of our nation.  I have learned that I do have influence and that we have lost so much wisdom from dismissing the generations of God fearing and loving women that came before us.  The future begins in the home and we need to be mindful of what impact we have on the shaping of future generations, for these are the children that will one day be taking care of us.  Selfishly, do I want to risk my future by leaving the present influence I have with my children up to someone else?  Is there anything more important than the calling of raising a future generation of believers that will seek God in all things they do?  I truly believe that the more homes we have dedicated to the Lord the stronger our nation will be. 

"The philosophy of the classroom in one generation will be the philosophy of the government in the next."  Abe Lincoln

 

 

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