A Calvin and Hobbes comic strip showed Calvin standing by his mother’s bed and saying, "Hey, Mom! Wake up. I made you a Mother’s Day card." His mother was very pleased and started to read it out loud – "I was going to buy you a card with hearts of pink and red. But I thought I’d rather spend the money instead. It’s awfully hard to buy things when one’s allowance is so small. So I guess you’re pretty lucky I got you anything at all. Happy Mother’s Day. There, I’ve said it. Now I’m done. So how about getting out of bed, and fixing some breakfast for your son." Even on Mother’s Day, many mothers end up carrying a "mother-load" of the work and labor at home! The Bible’s tribute to the godly woman / wife / mother in Proverbs 31 depicts her as hands-on, hard-working, and energetic. Verse 15 declares, "She also rises while it is yet night, And provides food for her house- hold." Again, verse 18 indicates she works late into the evening – "Her lamp does not go out by night." Her tireless efforts are summed up in verse 27 – "She watches over the ways of her household, And does not eat the bread of idleness." Little wonder then, that in the beginning of his tribute to godly women, the writer declared in verse 10, "Who can find a virtuous woman? For her worth is far above rubies." The passage makes clear she is honored not just for her physical energy and labor and stamina but also on the basis of her sterling inner character and beauty. All of this gives her a unique and powerful influence on her husband and children and in her community.
So, how much is a mom worth? Dare we ask? A yearly survey by Salary.com called the annual Mom Salary Survey asks and answers! First, they break down motherly duties into catergories including but not limited to * Day Care Center Teacher * CEO * Psychologist * Cook * Housekeeper * Laundry Machine Operator * Computer Operator * Facilities Manager * Janitor * Van Driver. Then they study how many hours moms worked in each category and what the family would pay for outsourcing that task. According to the 2016 survey, the average stay-at-home mom should make an annual salary of $143,102 (base salary 40 hour week equals $48,509 plus 52 hours weekly overtime equals $94,593). The average mom working outside the home is worth an annual salary (just for her "mom" role) of $90,223 (based on 40 hours of mothering duties and 19 hours of weekly overtime). There are few people whose job requirements approach the breadth of Mom’s responsibilities on a day to day basis. If she is a real mother, she is a working mom! A daddy tried to explain marriage to his four-year-old daughter. When he finished the little girl said, "I think I see. Is that when Mommy came to work for our family?" Touche! But if Mother’s work is off the chart in worth, so are her rewards. The Proverbs writer closes his tribute saying, "Her children rise up and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her . . . Give her of the fruit of her hands, And let her own works praise her in the gates" (Proverbs 31:28, 31). Not all women can or should or need to become mothers. But no one rivals the power of a godly mother’s influence on her home for God and for good. Her true worth can’t be measured in money or expressed in words.
-- By: Dan Gulley, Smithville, TN
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