[From the editors: One of the benefits of Gender Blog is meeting Christ-exalting, Gospel-centered Christian bloggers. Today, we are happy to introduce another such friend, Kim Schmidt. Kim is a pastor's wife and mother to two boys. She blogs at Fill This House. Be sure to stop by and check out her work. ]
Sometimes my sons and I bring home a library book that we later discover "doesn't please God." The book then goes back into our blue canvas library bag until we can return it.
This week, we had one such book, called Pirate Girl, by Cornelia Funke.
It's the story of the fierce pirates of the Horrible Haddock. All are men, given to drunkenness and carousing. They get overtaken by Barbarous Bertha and her band of all women pirates. Bertha and her crew conquer the men and sentence them to a life of scrubbing decks, peeling vegetables, and polishing Bertha's shoes.
I explained to my two young sons, "This book does not please God. It's trying to teach us that women should be more like men and men should be more like women. But God teaches us that He made men and women different, and that's a good thing."
That was sufficient explanation for my 4-year-old and 2-year-old. But the book still had me thinking. Scrubbing decks, peeling vegetables, and polishing shoes? In Pirate Girl, these tasks are punishment. They are repressive duties, fit only for slaves.
The book keeps coming back to my mind because, in our home, I peel the potatoes and I scrub the floors. I don't polish shoes, but I do polish bath fixtures and mirrors!
In a feminist worldview, these tasks are only a worthy occupation if one gets paid for the labor. I do these tasks, plus an endless list of other household jobs, without pay. I want my sons to know that the work I do is neither punishment nor oppression, and that my time and abilities would not be better spent elsewhere.
I do these things out of devotion to my family, that they would have a peaceful, nourishing, well-ordered home. And I do these tasks out of devotion to my Lord, for the Bible portrays the quiet, hidden service of women in the home as beautiful and valuable, and as an important means to the spread of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Father God, give us discerning eyes and ears, that we may catch worldly messages and snuff them out before they take root in our children's hearts. Lord, may my service in my home be a fragrant offering to you. Give me a heart of joy and thanksgiving, that you have given me so much work to do! May my daily work be a blessing to my husband and children, and be a testimony of your saving grace in my life.