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My "Smear Campaigns" post got a disagreement on Palin's priorities. Which is okay - in this way we may have to agree to disagree. Not that I don't appreciate other opinions in this regard - I just have come a long way from my former position of women have no business in leadership.
But if we are going to disagree I will make clear where I stand on the issue of women's service in or outside of the home:
I want to say that in a country where women are entering the workforce more and more just to make ends meet and to assist their husbands in providing a home and a good life (basic necessities) for their children I believe that we should honor those who pursue this line of work and service as much as those who remain in the home with full time responsibilities as wife and mother.
My question is: Does it mean that she can't do both well? Proverbs 31 highlights the wife of noble character - and she was not just "a stay at home mom" fulfilling her ministry and mission field calling at and in the home. She was in the marketplace selling fine linen and in the field as she brought in the harvest beside her husband. Her children were taught to work right beside her and she brought honor to her God, her household and her husband.
If Sarah Palin can run for the office of Vice President and fulfill that responsibility with the blessing and support of her husband what is wrong with that? How is that forsaking the call of God in her life as a wife and mother? Is it really our business to judge whether or not she was born for such a time as this? Women of influence and power were prominent in the Bible - Abigail who defied her husband to honor the king. Esther who defied a nation's protocol to save her people - could Sarah Palin be serving a higher purpose that none of us could see? Time will tell.
I am a stay at home mother, the child of a stay at home mother and I have also been a work in the workplace mother as a single and married mother. I was a teenage unwed mother and a divorcee by the time I was 21 with three little babies in tow. I did not make good choices and I did not do everything right or by the "Good Book..." but I would beg to find anyone perfect or anyone who has made all the right choices. I advocate both positions because I know the sacrifices involved in each. A working mom is equally noble in my book because she has to pull off the duties of both full time mom and out of the home employee.
Even Billy Graham's daughter recounts the blessing and the draw-back of the "higher calling." Ruth Bell Graham was known to travel with her husband and left her children with "Navigators" and to the care of their grandparents to accompany her husband to the mission field. This may not have been a full time deal, but it was reported in the memoirs of Ruth Graham of her parents. Did anyone question their higher call which took them far away from their home and the children they were raising because their ministry was the "Lord's work" and not government's? Does anyone laud them as neglectful parents because Franklin Graham lived in rebellion when he was younger or that Ruth Graham (daughter) ended up in three failed marriages? No... We praise and honor the sacrifices that were necessary for the work of the Lord to be accomplished in the life of this family.
Would anyone dare say Beth Moore is irresponsible in fulfilling her call as wife and mother for leaving every weekend to go and minister to women at conferences even while her children were still young? Her daughters told us just a few weeks ago that the sacrifices made for the sake of their mother's ministry were worth it.
Why is Sarah Palin different?
Does anyone question the call of women with small children to the mission field of India where their children are at risk of being murdered or beaten by those hostile to Christians? No we honor them for their sacrifice. Are they missing their higher calling? I personally know of a family who went to serve in India with their children and their young son was beaten severely and hospitalized while they served - does this mean his mother failed to do her duty to serve at home and take care of her children?
At what point is it a "higher calling" or just an excuse to sit back and allow these "political" things to be someone else's responsibility? Each of us must find these answers in our own lives. There are absolutes... the Ten Commandments outlines absolutes well - but in the areas of whether to work within the home or outside of it as a "higher calling" is something I find that God compels us to do in honor and deference to our husbands and His (God's) purposes. Does that mean a woman cannot lead well? Or that she should not be inclined to do so? Does a "stay at home mom" corner the market on the Titus 2 calling? What is really being advocated by imposing that view on others?
When do we start laying down stereotypes and judgments --- why is it so okay for Hilary or Oprah, but not okay for Sarah Palin? My point in my last post is that the media and our society will paint any picture they choose to smear a person's reputation and character to get what they desire most. In this case, to defeat McCain and promote Obama. Including "Hero Worshipping" a philandering and adulterous President who was courting interns and lying about it while we were paying him big bucks to do it!
I am equally saddened by what the HOLLYWOOD HYPE does to our young people like the Spears girls, Lindsay Lohan and Heath Ledger and others like them who are thrown under the bus and killing themselves in the name of entertainment and news. But that is another post for another day.
I am not thoroughly convinced my view is right for everyone - but it is where I have come. At what point is our opinion about "Christian Service" in our homes more noble than serving others in the public arena in whatever area we have been gifted and naturally bent to serve?
My social rant and political postings are now complete. May God bless America and May His will be done in this nation's election this November.
A couple of other perspectives I found beneficial:
A Woman's Highest Calling
Baby Wearin' Mama
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This is not a post advocating you vote for McCain over Obama. I have my opinion which I don't mind making publicly known. This blog is not a 501(3)c and in no way affiliated with any charitable organization or church. I advocate you go out and vote your conscience. If Obama is a better option because Palin is a woman and mother of five or because you disagree with McCain's politics and position, then I pray that the right person to lead this nation back to God and godliness is elected this fall and little more.**COMMENTS CLOSED**
