Play It Again, Sahm

My life is ruined. A mom ought to be able to manage running her own household. I didn’t need help. What do these Happy Housekeepers know about my home anyway? Well, other than that Tyler sometimes misses the toilet bowl…

Oh my goodness! They KNOW my son has bad aim!

I can never show my face again in public.

Jocelyn

She’s mad that her husband insisted on hiring a housekeeping service? Somebody shoot her.

Instant Message

JocelynM: Hey! Be nice!

Dulcet: I am. I could have said you sounded like Rosalyn. But I didn’t.

JocelynM: Yeah, okay. You were nice.

Dulcet: Seriously, what is your problem? I would LOVE to have a housekeeping service. We can’t afford it.

JocelynM: I just feel like if I’d been doing the job I should be doing, Shane wouldn’t have gone and hired someone else to do it. How would you feel if you had to hire someone else to do your design work for you?

Dulcet: If I had to hire another designer, I’d be thrilled because it would mean my business is really growing. Most people view hiring as a step up.

JocelynM: It just feels like a big failure to me. Maybe I *should* be shot.

Dulcet: I’m sorry.

JocelynM: I gotta run. Tonight is piano lessons and we have to leave in a half hour.

Dulcet: Have fun.

JocelynM signed off at 6:18:04 p.m.

Hey Jocelyn,

Frank and I got ourselves a cleaning lady right after we got married a few years ago. It’s been a lifesaver. Or at least a sanity saver for me, anyway. Don’t know what I would have done without the extra help.

Don’t worry—once you get used to it, you’ll wonder how you ever survived without it. I can’t remember the last time I actually had to clean the bathroom myself!

Veronica

Can’t remember the last time she had to clean the bathroom? Somebody shoot her, too.

Dulcie dear,

You seem a little tense or unhappy about the good fortunes of Jocelyn and Veronica. Do we have a bit of an envy problem?

I used to feel the same way. But you know what I’ve learned? The key to inner peace is learning to be content. That’s what the Apostle Paul learned—contentment no matter what. Everything is a blessing—even a dirty bathroom! It really is.

Here’s a challenge for you—the next time you are elbow deep in the toilet bowl, giving it a good scrub, just start praising God for the blessing of having to clean a toilet. And what, you may ask, is there to be thankful for about a dirty toilet?

It means, dear one, that you have a family to make it dirty. Blessings and peace,

Rosalyn

“The wise woman builds her house, but the foolish tears it down with her own hands.” Proverbs 14:1 (NASB)

Never mind someone else. I’ll shoot her myself.

Dulcie

Fellow loopers,

I think this is a wonderful topic. Thanks, Rosalyn!

Here is my honest confession: I am a pastor’s wife. Rightly or not, we’re held to unreasonably higher standard of behavior than everyone else. But I am also a graduate student with an advisor that, frankly, I can’t stand.

She was my professor this past semester for a class called Women’s Voices: Misogyny, Religion and Community in Early Modern Europe. It was actually a fascinating study about the cultural and political treatment of women during this time period. I absolutely loved the class. We studied primary sources, private journals of women, letters, stories, sermons, books—some were humorous and others were heartbreaking.

My advisor is actually a brilliant woman and an amazing teacher. At first, I was so impressed with her and the research she’s done, that I chose her as my advisor. But I didn’t know until I had her for class this summer what she was really like.

She’s quite the feminist, and when she found out that I am married to a pastor, she made barbed comments about it during class. It was embarrassing and demeaning. And stupid. She’s very intelligent, but her sarcastic remarks made her sound immature and not very bright.

I feel guilty for not liking her. After all, I know that God loves her, and if Jesus were in my shoes, He’d forgive this woman and be able to see past the petty smallness and into her heart.

But for once in my life, I’d like to not do the “spiritually correct” thing. My husband, Jonathan, told me that he thinks God led me to my advisor for a reason. I’m sure He did, but I’m not happy about it at all. A normal person would request an advisement change. A normal person would not put up with this crap.

I, however, don’t feel I have the freedom to be a “normal person.” (No quips about that, you guys!) It would affect my funding for my dissertation, and it would not be good for my reputation. Right now, I’m not too happy about that at all.

So that’s the confession— Ms. Holy Pastor’s Wife doesn’t want to be the “light and love of Christ” to this bitter woman. Ms. Holy Pastor’s Wife is tired of doing the right thing and would like to do the usual human thing of writing her off permanently.

Ms. Holy Pastor’s Wife is grumpy.

Phyllis

Instant Message

ZeeMuzzy: hey phyllis—you trying to bait rosalyn or what?

PhyllisLorimer: No. I just needed to vent.

ZeeMuzzy: well, i don’t blame you. but you know ros is going to have something to say about it.

PhyllisLorimer: Something along the lines of “Thanks for your honesty, dear, but I’m a little concerned about the example you’re setting for the other women. We who are in a position of leadership need to be conscious of what our actions are saying to others,” perhaps?

ZeeMuzzy: precisely

PhyllisLorimer: Too late. I’ve already preached that sermon to myself and the effect lasted about as long as people’s memories of Jonathan’s sermons do on Sunday morning.