Friday, July 31, 2009

Should Mother Work outside the Home in 1981?

I am reading a charming old magazine, published in June of 1981. It is called, The Joyful Woman and was published by the daughters of the late evangelist, Dr. John R. Rice.

There is an article in here, "Shall I be Part-Time Worker and Part-Time Mother?" written by Delores Elaine Bius. It is so interesting. Basically, Mrs. Bius is talking about her confusion over whether or not she should go out and get a job. She is worried about the bills. She has two married sons and three in high school. Her loving husband supports her and loves having her at home. When she approaches the family with her idea of getting a job, her sons discourage her. One says, "Mom, didn't you ever hear of Murphy's Law? It explains that the more money you have coming in the more your wants increase. It's a vicious cycle. Before you knew it, you would change from a part-time job to a full-time one. I think you should forget the idea of working altogether."

Her husband reminds her that "The cattle on the thousand hills are the Lord's." He trusts God for their finances and isn't concerned about the bills. Besides, Mr. Bius is already taking care of them all just fine. His wife is just getting a little pulled into what society around her is doing.

This is such a cute article and fascinating to see what housewives often thought about working in the early 1980's. It ends with this adorable thought:

Mrs. Bius says, "If Satan starts to tempt me again with thoughts of a job outside my home, I will say, 'Get thee behind me.' "

Isn't it interesting to realize this same struggle is still going on today? Should Mom work outside the home or not? Well, according to the Bible, she is to be a Keeper at Home. That is enough for me and I am thrilled to be at home. What an honor!


Blessings
Mrs. White

7 comments:

Unknown said...

I think this struggle for the heart of the woman has been going on since the garden.

Tristan said...

Love this post and totally agree!

java girl said...

That sounds like a great article. And I pray that one day soon I will be able to be a Keeper of my home. I truly believe that there is not a better place to be than at home supporting ones husband and raising up your children!

Love you blog :O)

Heather @ Marine Corps Nomads said...

I too agree that it's an honor to be at home taking care of my husband and family. What a blessing!

Anonymous said...

Mrs. White, I love this post! You're certainly getting added to my Google Reader and my blog list on my sidebar. :) Now to get it all so other's can read it, eh? ;)

Blessed Homemaking said...

I think the article is encouraging, though I think today, more people would encourage the wife that yes, she DOES need to go work outside the home to "help". This is always so discouraging to me as I believe God clearly shows in His Word where the wife should be and what she should be doing!

Carolynn Stewart said...

Amen!