The 'Ultimate' Career

A wise and beautiful friend shared this quote with me the other day:

"The homemaker has the ultimate career. All other careers exist for one purpose only - and that is to support the ultimate career. " -C.S. Lewis 

Think about that for a minute.

The "ultimate career" = motherhood (and/or fatherhood, being a parent.)

Our family was watching an LDS General Conference talk on Monday. President Dieter F. Uchtdorf was addressing the world as he talked about people having regrets when they passed on from this life into the next. He said that the biggest regrets were:

1. I wish I had spent more time with the people I love.
2. I wish I had lived up to my potential.
3. I wish I had allowed myself to be happier.

He then tells us to:

1. Resolve to spend more time with those we love.
2. Resolve to strive more earnestly to become the person God wants us to be.
3. Resolve to find happiness, regardless of our circumstances.

How do the quote and the talk relate to each other? Given that I am a mom, and am living the ultimate career, the regrets and resolutions apply directly to me. Often mothers wish away the time, hoping for easier, less demanding days. However, we need to be happy now, with those we love, and trying to be what God wants us to be.

I think the world and Satan want to make moms feel like their job is lesser, or of little or no importance. Mothers are told that if they don't work, then they not as smart, or not worth as much as a man or other working women. 

The family is being eroded by a number of lies, misconceptions, and low morals right now. People are evolving to think that having children outside of marriage is okay, living together unmarried is okay, and all manner of other sins (which if you don't agree with or are tolerant of, than you are viewed as a bigot, or hater, etc). God is in charge. Not the government. Not man. Family, and marriage between a man and a woman, is ordained of God. What is more important than family? Nothing.

Families are meant to provide safety, learning, and love. My job as a mother is more important than any monetary gain or any public accolades I could receive as a career driven woman. What will fame and fortune mean when I am lying in my death bed? What will be important to me when that time comes? I hope that I will not find myself regretting and wishing for the days of spending time with my children, grandchildren, family and friends. I hope that I will not have wasted all of my days stressing over things that do not matter and looking for happier days ahead when I need to seek to be happy now.

Being a mom is living up to my greatest potential. I am a teacher, a nurturer, a doctor of body and spirit, a psychologist, an accountant, a problem-solver, a cook, a guide, a comforter, a disciple of Christ, I am a mother. There is no other job that allows you to learn and become as much as being a mother. Tending children, neighbors, friends, the elderly, the poor and needy, the sick and otherwise afflicted is what we are meant to do. Serve.

In Matthew 25:40 it says,

 "...Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me."

If you have chosen to take care of one another, it is like you are caring for the Savior. Conversely, if you are treating others poorly, you are also doing it to the Savior (which opens a whole discourse on the Atonement, but I will save that for another time. It has to do with the Savior suffering for all of our pains, not just sins).

Another scripture I love that goes along with this is in the Book of Mormon, Mosiah 2:17:

"And behold, I tell you these things that ye may learn wisdom; that ye may learn that when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God."

Being a mom is not glamorous. Changing diapers, cleaning up vomit, taking care of household chores, helping with homework, mending wounds, and being up in the middle of the night with sick kids is anything but easy. Look at it this way though. Did the Savior, during his time on earth, mingle with the rich and the fancy and require servants as any other king would do? No. You would find him with the sick, the weak, the poor, the children, and those who wanted to be near him. You would find Him serving others, uplifting and teaching others, and seeking His lost sheep. We are doing His work on earth by serving and taking care of others, especially those who cannot care for themselves.

I think that being a mom most importantly teaches us how to be like the Savior--how to love, forgive, care and have compassion--which is ultimately what I am striving for.

© Wendy 2013