And what do you do?”
For blessing or curse, I live in a city and a culture that is uniquely focused on work. People come to Washington from all around the globe to make a difference in the world and while education and experience ought to matter for much of the important work done in Washington, as a professional nose-wiper working on an advanced degree in banana-mashing, this preoccupation with achievement can feel daunting nonetheless.
As a Christian, overall, I find this vocational emphasis to be deeply fulfilling. I have come to believe, as the Reformers did, that all truth is God’s truth and all work is God’s work. Yet, in my transition from a very public, marketplace vocation working for leadership on Capitol Hill to a mostly private, familial vocation as a stay-at-home mother, I have become increasingly aware of how difficult it can be to find sufficient resources, conversations, or even the vocabulary, to develop a coherent understanding and an intentional living-out of this quiet, care-giving vocation that now defines the waking and working hours of my days.
A few weeks ago I gathered around a beautifully set dinner table with a number of other mothers — some new and some sage — to explore this timeless, tenured vocation women have committed themselves to throughout human history. Admittedly, having only been a mother for five months I had the least to offer and the most to learn as I listened to the mothers of three, four and five children (even twins!) talk about the lessons, tensions, books and relationships that sustain them in their work each day. The evening was part of a series of Vocare conversations hosted by The Washington Institute and made possible by a grant from the Lilly Foundation, to bring together believers of a common vocation to discuss and learn how to better pursue their shared vocation in medicine or law or business or any number of professions, even stay-at-home motherhood. Thanks be to God.
