Also, I gave you an award-http://justanothercatholicmom.blogspot.com/2009/06/honest-scrap-award.html

And I wholeheartedly agree with #3 and 4!

The world today is broken. Reading the news with empathy is like joining Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. I don’t see much hope for a renaissance of wholesome healthy values and any kind of spiritual renewal on the horizon. The best hope for our children is to give them the best foundation in their earliest years, love, security, peace, trust in God, a sense of self, and the assurance that we grownups will be there to listen, to guide, to nurture, and to help them along the way of life. Then when we send them out into the world, we at least have the consolation of knowing that we have done our best to prepare them for this troubled world at this challenging time. Hopefully then, THEY can take what they have learned and pass it on to those they meet. I think grace-filled living starts in the family and expands within small communities. Not every person will be a great leader, but it is also important to have good followers, people with wisdom and insight who can encourage the leaders along the paths of righteousness.

Part of the broken world of today, is in the myth that motherhood is somehow less important than some “out there” career. Think about it; people are killing babies in the womb so they don’t have to interrupt their careers. That is just crazy.

If you are happy staying at home with your children, then be assured that that is a noble and important place for you to be. There might come a time when your heart will tell you to do something else or to add some other endeavors to motherhood.

We have all been brainwashed to some extent by the wizards of pop culture–and unfortunately it has taken its toll on all of us. I remember when I thought that the world would just get better and better.
Now I can’t believe how fast things have deteriorated. Having more THINGS, more conveniences, and more leisure, have not made us a happier nation. Almost everyone I know is on anti-depressants. It takes someone with an altogether different world-view to point out that capitalism and materialism ALSO have their flaws. Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI have seen many different systems, none of them perfect, and they have courageously pointed out the flaws in our systems. But WE are too close to it to really SEE it.

As an educator, I was shocked when I read a book by Albert Schweitzer that suggested that perhaps it was not wise to use the European model of education in equatorial Africa. Think about it. This is what he said: “Agriculture and handicraft are the foundations of civilization. Only where that foundation exists are the conditions given for the formation and persistence of a stratum of population which can occupy itself with commercial and intellectual pursuits. But … we proceed as if not agriculture and handicraft, but reading and writing were the beginnings of civilization.” He goes on to say that those who are “educated” come to think of themselves as superior to manual work and want only to follow commercial or intellectual callings. If they are unable to procure employment in business or government, they sit about and grumble. He wrote this in the 1930’s and he was deeply concerned with the way that western civilization seemed to be decaying and how no one seemed to be noticing.

What happens if there is no food to eat (or import) or lumber to build or people to repair our cars or our plumbing? We are in the midst of economic chaos as a result of the wish of some to get rich quick with no regard for the well-being of others. Greed has become the national virtue. Television offers mean, outrageous, and crude behavior as “entertainment” and right becomes wrong and wrong becomes right. If right thinking and right acting aren’t taught at home, it certainly isn’t going to be taught and learned out in the world.

What is important is for families to decide for themselves what is best for THAT family. There are many things more important than money. I apologize for the length of this but it’s hard for me to be succinct. I’ve seen so many ragtag children trying to raise themselves in spite of parental neglect that I can’t bear to not reassure a stay-at-home mom of the importance of a role she currently enjoys. No guilt!!! Kudos and prayers for you. God bless.

I’m reading a book right now in which the author quotes Alice von Hildebrand in The Privilege of Being a Woman: “One day, all human accomplishments will be reduced to a pile of ashes. But every single child to whom a woman has given birth will last forever, for he has been given an immortal soul made to God’s image and likeness.” So you are engaging in the most important work of all!