Declaring a Cease-Fire to the Mommy Wars

You Don't Need to Justify Your Work

The Mommy Wars have probably done more damage to our relationships with other women than than anything else in modern culture. We have on one end of the spectrum women who work outside the home who are elevated by our culture as doing good and valuable work. They feel the need to justify themselves against the Christian subculture which elevates the work of the home as the best thing a woman can do.

The work that we're doing is part of being an image bearer.

At both ends of the spectrum, women are justifying their existence against a culture that tells them their work is not valuable.

A Biblical Perspective

But the Bible doesn't give us any Mommy Wars—it doesn't give us any work pitted against the other. Instead, the Bible tells us that in the beginning God created male and female to work. He created us for good and valuable work. The work that we're doing is part of being an image bearer.

So we're not looking at one work as better than the other, but instead we should be each other's cheerleaders and encouragers, telling others that the work they are doing is valuable and good. We shouldn't be trying to make ourselves feel better because we feel threatened by a culture that doesn't think our work is valuable.

Glory in the Ordinary

Courtney Reissig

This book combats misunderstandings about the value of at-home work to help moms see how Christ infuses glorious meaning and significance into every facet of ordinary life.

We don't need to defend our work to a culture, whether it's the Christian subculture or the secular culture around us. We need to look at God who tells us that our work is valuable. Because we are created in his image, we were made to work. And we can encourage the women around us in the work that they're doing—regardless of whether they're in the office or they're in the home.

All work has value.

Courtney Reissig is a wife, mother, and writer. She has written for numerous Christian publications including the Gospel Coalition, Christianity Today, and the CT Women blog. She lives in Little Rock, Arkansas, with her husband, Daniel, and their four sons.