The Importance of Parenting and the Work of Restoration (Video)

In this video, Janet Wilde shares about how her faith informs her work as a homemaker. This video was shown in corporate worship during a series called "The Other Six - Faith and the Rest of the Week" preached at Missio Dei Church in Asheville, NC. More information can be found at mdcasheville.org/faith-and-work

Thanks to Missio Dei Church in Asheville, NC, for their permission to post this video.

For Further Exploration

This video is used as an illustration in the Theology of Work Bible Commentary's section on the Servant at Work (Isaiah 40ff.). Visit Servant at Work (Isaiah 40ff.) to read more.

Transcript

How do I define work? I feel like the godly of definition of work is getting to do what you ought to do, what God designed me to do. It's hard to put a label on my work because there's so much involved, but the world would call me a homemaker. I never dreamed in a million years that I would stay at home because I was brought up in a broken home, with a lot of abuse and neglect. I was not the kind of kid who played "mommy" and had dolls.

In spite of all that, God has, in his wisdom, chosen me to end family curses and be a homemaker. There's a quote that I saw that C.S. Lewis says that in reality homemaking is the most important because it's the reason that all other jobs exist. That's a big responsibility. And it's interesting because I feel like the Lord, in all of this, is showing me who I really am. Where my whole life I've never known the real me, finally that mask is being taken off. And where I feel like there was no preparation for this, there was no background for this, there was not a godly example set for me, now the Lord is slowly revealing to me "This is who you actually are. This is who I really am." And this has been his design for me.

I feel like a word that keeps coming back to me is the role of "restorer" or "restoration." There's a lot in the Bible about that, particularly in Isaiah. "I will choose you to be a 'repairer of walls, a restorer of streets with dwellings.'" And in homemaking, I feel like there is a lot of restoration. I feel like I'm always making things new. And there's such joy in just simple tasks. I feel like the world has robbed women particularly of enjoying, like dusting, or cleaning, or mopping a floor, or even changing a baby's diaper. There is a restoration in all of that. You're making things new. You're making things nice. And that's important to God.