Domestic Vocation pt. 1

As I mentioned in an earlier post, our little family has been thinking quite a bit about vocation, or living intentionally towards a goal and ideal, for my non-Christian friends. Yesterday, for a variety of reasons, we had some good news here that lifted our hearts a bit and let me look out from the grey area I've been sitting in for a few months towards the possibilities ahead. You know how it is, life gets in the way of life and those of us who worry (my hand is WAY up on this front) have a tendency to get a little, um, bogged down about stuff. Now that I am only partially bogged down and not fully submerged anymore I'm all excited to research the idea of living a vocation.

I have to stop you right here and practically insist that although I am not Catholic, am in fact quite far from being Catholic, the Catholic mamas have it down pat on this one. Catholic blogs about domestic vocation abound, and like any blogs some are quite good and make you stay up too late reading them and some, well, let's be kind. I believe I must have heard about the idea of motherhood and keeping house as a vocation before, because it makes sense that I would have, but the first time I can point my finger and say "That's what I mean by domestic vocation" was with a post by Jennifer Fulwiler at Conversion Diary. Amazing woman. I wish she lived in the boonies with me rather than in Texas with those scorpions she rants about. Mind you we have slugs around here that are the size of erasers.



Jen talked about serving others in a way that was so eloquent and well thought out, but also resonated with me as being true and accurate. In true Protestant fashion I'm a little hazy about the idea of non-secular religious life and, if pressed to define it and why someone would choose it I would have said "Well, God asks you to live a life devoted to Him, but also to sacrifice a 'normal' life with a spouse and children, but it wouldn't be a sacrifice because He would be sort of your spouse, and sometimes you are cloistered but sometimes not." Very intelligent, eh? All I can say is go read Jen, she's miles from that definition. I knew God had called me to be a mother, but I never really thought about it in terms of the same level of 'calling' that, say, a missionary would have, or a nun. I figured God wanted me to be a mother but maybe also to have a job outside the home, and be a student, and so forth. Which, I don't know, He may very well want from me in the future, but after thinking about it for a while I feel a great sense of calm about the whole idea of being a mother FIRST. Of looking at the world through the lense of my 'vocation'. I don't for a minute think that that is the only way God can call a woman to serve her family, and I have the utmost respect for any mother who can work and raise her babies and do other things as well, but for me, I think that this is how I'm being called.



I'm still working with this idea a bit, so bear with me. If I am called, with the same authority and certainty that a nun is called, to be a mother and keeper of my home, then I should, logically, attempt to undertake MY appointed task with the same fervour and diligence that that nun would. Right? I mean, that makes sense to me, and I think it fits with the idea of a vocation, a calling that God has put on your life. What HE wants you to do. And I'm certain He wants me to be a mother to my son, and maybe in the future to other children, and a wife to my husband and...well here is where it gets a bit fuzzy because is keeping a home tidy a vocation, really? I mean, dishes? I can't stand dishes. Does that help me to fulfill God's plan for my life? Looking back to the example of a nun, however, helps a bit. Yes, she prays and attends church and probably does things in the world like nurse or teach (see, getting a bit fuzzy on the specifics again) but I bet she also mops the floor and serves dinner and weeds the garden. And when she does is she saying "Boy I can't wait to finish mopping so I can get back to my real work!" or is she thinking "This is also part of it." Playing with Samuel and going to playdates and such is part of it, and cleaning the bathroom is part of it. Part of the overall vocation that God has called a home keeper and mother to.



Back to the blogs, though. I really got interested in this idea and started reading and reading. After Conversion Diary I found Abigail's Alcove, and I Have To Sit Down, and It's Almost Naptime, and on and on. All women, all mothers, all Christians and all living their lives, to varying degrees, within the concept of domestic vocation. They blogged about their children (some of them have more than others, up to eight in one case!) and their husbands and the silly things they do and say and experience daily, but more than that they blogged quite a bit about where God stood in their lives. Perhaps this isn't quite as big a revelation for Christian mothers who live within a community of like-minded individuals, but I was not raised a Christian and I don't have shared memories of bible camps and youth groups and saving my first kiss till marriage and these sorts of things. I don't, for the most part, have Christian girlfriends and those that I do have either live far far away from me, or live Christian lives that are removed from mine. Reading these women's stories gave me a glimpse into the lives of people like me, but the next step (or the next eight steps) up.

In part two of this post I'm going to talk about my thoughts on transitioning from a nice concept and relevant theory to a practical lifestyle.