So, what do you do all day?

"So, what do you do?"

I cringe everytime I hear that question, because now my brain has to work overtime to come up with an answer that that particular person can understand, without being condescending or rude.

So, most times I go with: I'm a full time mother. Though, that's not really true, ok? It's been a few years since the kids have woken me up in the night. So, technically, I'm a day time mother. And also, my children are done with early childhood, so really, what can I possibly do for them that takes all day? 

Okaaay. So, then what do you really do all day? 

I cringe again. This time mostly because all the things I do do all day, have absolutely no value by the world's standard.

Growing up, I was taught that intelligent, educated women didn't wash children's backsides or stitch clothes or bake cakes. They pursued careers and made their own money. And growing up, I found myself to be an intelligent, highly educated woman who thoroughly enjoyed my higher education, thoroughly enjoyed my first few jobs and still yearned for more than anything else, to be a mother. 

I never ever cared about how much money I made. Through the years, my salary increased and it didn't make any difference to my personal happiness. Through the years, the promotions came and it didn't add any esteem to who I already knew I was. There wasnt really anything the world could offer me that would make me truly satisfied with my life or proud of my life. 

All the things I wanted to do with my life had actually very very little to do with making money or climbing some corporate ladder. 

I wanted to love. 

I wanted to be fully present, fully accessible, fully alert to every opportunity to love. 

So, what do I do all day? 

Well, the honest truth is: I love.

Firstly, I love my heavenly Father, my older brother Jesus and my closest friend the Holy Spirit. I love hanging out with them. I receive love from them, without any hesitation or unworthiness and I let myself be overwhelmed by what they have to give me each morning. 

And I love them. I pour out my heart to them, I share myself with them: my time, my energy, my innermost self. I am available to them. 

Next, I love my family. I do the things that need to be done for them and simultaneously teach them to learn how to do those things for themselves so they never have to be helpless without me. So I'm basically making myself dispensable there. 

I hug. A lot. 

I listen. A lot. 

I'm available. My family never has to make an appointment with me. They rarely have to tell me to keep my phone away. My children have never ever been juggled. They have always been parented with great care because even when I stepped out to do something else, it was only if and when it was possible for my husband to step in and take over my role.

When I go out to run an errand and return, I have so many stories and happenings to catch up on. And I love being so utterly useless to the world that my family has the best of me, whenever they want me.

My children know their place in my life. They come third in my life because my relationship with God comes first and my relationship with my husband comes second. They know that I chose them and still do because they are so worthy of my time and attention. And because I choose them, I have kept saying *NO* to many people and opportunities that would drain me out and leave me less of a mother than I want to be. 

I teach. Every moment is a teachable moment.

I learn. I just take it all in so it can help me and someone else. 

I'm always looking for ways to make our family life richer, deeper and most importantly, holier ie more loving. 

And then, I love others. 

I find people I can serve in Jesus' name and I serve them.  And I'm very careful to do it in a time and way that my top three priorities and investments remain in my relationship with God, my husband and my children. 

None of this is for money or fame or a sense of worth or well being. 

My Father already owns more than anything I could ever need. My Brother is always such an amazing role model and teacher. My best friend the Holy Spirit is always just a whisper away, ready to come alongside me and help with everything. 

My greatest ambition in life is to get to heaven and take many others there too. So, while on earth, all I really have to have to do: is love. Love like Jesus. Love others with Jesus' love that I have first received. 

Now honestly, tell me. 

When someone asks me what I do, will they understand if I say: I love? 

People don't live on love and fresh air, apparently. But most people won't believe me when I say we don't live on my husband's salary either. We live on much much more that Our heavenly Father provides us both in material goodness and spiritual goodness. 

I feel so very sorry for the multitudes who miss out on all the love there is to receive from God and share with each other because they are so busy chasing some goal that is inherently transient and always eventually unsatisfying. Ultimately, what they are really looking for is to be approved, to be validated, to be found worthy, to be in essence, loved. 

Sure, the world needs great doctors, farmers, entrepreneurs, and what not, both male and female in every sphere. 

But maybe the world also needs a few more people who really have nothing better to do than love.