As promised in my previous post, I am here to reveal what really keeps Mormon housewives busy. In this article (discussed in the previous post), I am left with the impression that the author and her friends think the majority of time in Mormon housewife's day is spent on herself and her family, doing things like upholstering her furniture, searching the stores for bargain deals, making her own designer-quality clothes, scrapbooking, and other crafty things. I do not know these women, but I know the culture of the Mormon woman and so I think I know what fills much our time: service.
Part of the misconception comes from the fact that we, as Mormon women, don't talk about all the service we do...as we shouldn't. We do what we do because we love, we have compassion, and we want to bring relief to others. We make dinners for family's going through a rough time or who just had a baby. We give rides to people who have no transportation. We lend a much needed ear to friends who just need to talk. We build hygiene kits, make blankets, and serve countless hours in our church callings (teaching Sunday School, sending emails, organizing the troops, etc).
Even when we are not outwardly serving, we consider what we do inside the home service, as well. Every time I make my husband and baby a homecooked meal that took more than 15 minutes to prepare, I look at that as service. When I fold and put everyone's laundry away, I see service. Why do I classify that as service? Because I do it because I love my family. Not because I particularly enjoy, but I do not (usually) grumble about it either. Maybe it's because for a while we lived in a way where I did not have the time to do these things but wanted to be able to do them, and I see it as one more way to express my love for my family. Any time we go to the temple, for our ancestors or others', we are serving.
Service is the expression of love and compassion we have for others and, as a group, I know no other group of women so dedicated to this mission. My days are not spent in a food shelter nor do most full-time mommies, but I also know that if I were ever to need ANYTHING, I could call on the good sisters of my ward. The hearts of the Mormon housewife (and most LDS women) are willing to help when and however they are able to. I'm afraid the Mormon housewife blogs make it seem we are totally focused on ourselves, when, really, we spend so much time on others (even if it's just our family).
Of course, I cannot speak for every LDS woman, but this is true for every active LDS woman I have met. Sure, many young mothers are not able to drop everything in the middle of the day to help someone move, but they will find a way to help in a different way if they can. We don't brag about all we do as a group or individually, but in and effort to combat the opinion that all Mormon housewives do is about improving their own situations, I wanted to point that much of our day is filled with service. Anyone who knows and LDS knows that there are few groups more organized, more willing, and more able to help because we believe that when we are in the service of our fellow man, we are in the service of our God.
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