Not Just A Mom

[KeptByTheWord]

Originally Posted by Adam

Yes, it is. I'm essentially waiting for her to die before I can really devote myself to religious study, something that I'm looking forward to doing once I retire in a few years. If I have any kind of personal religious revelation, I tend to keep it to myself rather than share it with her because she usually lashes out. She is 85 with health problems and currently in an assisted living facility. To be honest, we are all waiting on her to die. Currently, though, her health has been on the upswing.

A side note... this past Christmas, she was the only one that gave me a Christmas card. I even have a brother, a sister, and 3 grown kids. One of my kids is a devout Christian. Only my mom gave me a card.

That is really, really, really sad, Adam. There is no one in the world who can take the place of a mother, and for her to be so miserable, must be so hard to deal with. But yet, like you said, there is always good in the worst of situations, so you must comfort yourself with that. I will be praying for your mother that she will find refuge in the Lord before she goes into eternity. And for you, that you will be able to find that same refuge as well.

[Adam]

Originally Posted by ILG

But what if someone has children and then wants to have a career? (Not to be confused with having a "job".)

Again, it is all individual situations. What if that career or job is at home? Think of the classic farm of the past where the wife and mother had a full-time job taking care of the home, in addition to some farm chores. What happens when the husband dies and she's left having to do it all?

But, yes, I know, in today's post-modern world it is usually a job in an office and the kids in daycare. My ex-wife did that and she was true-blue Apostolic. I personally think she didn't want kids, she just liked the idea of snagging a man and getting married. But, we love our kids anyway despite all the chaos it all was.

[ILG]

Originally Posted by KeptByTheWord

GAG!

POP works as a ROTATOR while his face gets REDDER every minute!

[KeptByTheWord]

Oh my... we could really have some fun with this ....

http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Append...indromic_words

[Adam]

Originally Posted by KeptByTheWord

That is really, really, really sad, Adam. There is no one in the world who can take the place of a mother, and for her to be so miserable, must be so hard to deal with. But yet, like you said, there is always good in the worst of situations, so you must comfort yourself with that. I will be praying for your mother that she will find refuge in the Lord before she goes into eternity. And for you, that you will be able to find that same refuge as well.

I'm thinking my mom's bitterness toward God started when one of her children died. He was born before me. I never knew him. He died of leukemia when he was about 4 years old. She was devastated. My parents divorced over it, but then remarried and had me. I was sort of his replacement.

[KeptByTheWord]

tattarrattat – the longest palindrome in the Oxford English Dictionary, coined by James Joyce in Ulysses for a knock on the door

[KeptByTheWord]

Originally Posted by Adam

I'm thinking my mom's bitterness toward God started when one of her children died. He was born before me. I never knew him. He died of leukemia when he was about 4 years old. She was devastated. My parents divorced over it, but then remarried and had me. I was sort of his replacement.

Trauma does a lot of damage in lives, to be sure. I'm so sorry that your mother wasn't able to find some peace in the Lord through this. I believe it would have made a difference. And the effects of her reaction to this trauma, have scarred your life too, it seems.

[Pressing-On]

Okay, this feels really weird with Adam being very serious. But, seriously, what is this?

kinnikinnik – variant (or common misspelling) of kinnikinnick, a Native American smoking mixture

[KeptByTheWord]

Originally Posted by Pressing-On

I better add something to the discussion.

I am glad that my mom was a stay at home mom. With eight children, someone needed to be home all the time. We did have a maid, but she mostly did the laundry, ironing, etc. And my mother was a great cook!

I missed this somehow in our palindromic bantering PO, sorry!

Thank you for sharing your thoughts about your mother. Taking care of eight children is really a full-time job! Do you think your mother ever felt that she could have done something else with her life, other than be a mother? Or did she feel it was a blessing for her to serve her family this way?

Originally Posted by Adam

Every woman is different. Some are not cut out to be mothers. There are girls that are tomboys, and others that play with dolls and doll houses. One woman may want to remain single and join the military or have a career. Another will want to be a wife and mother. Some women want to rob banks and kill people. We are all individuals, you cannot apply a broad generalization of "all women should be wives and mothers because it is the greatest calling a woman can achieve" to all women.

Yes, each woman or man for that matter, is an individual, and designed by God to have unique talents and abilities. How those talents, and abilities are used, can depend on a number of different factors in their lives.

I personally believe that because of the nature God designed women with, which is to nurture, care for, and teach, that given the right opportunity, a woman would be happiest in the home, caring, nurturing, and loving her family, and others with her God-given design to nurture.

Men, on the other hand, have God-given natures to protect, provide security, and to work. Originally, I believe, God designed men to find fulfillment in their work, and for women find fulfillment by nurturing.

[Adam]

Woman=nurturer and Man=protector is a very broad generalization and cannot be applied to all men and women.