I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve found myself in that awkward moment. You know the one—when someone asks, “What do you do?” and my instinctive response is to shuffle my feet and mumble, “I’m just a stay-at-home mom.” There’s this odd feeling in my chest as I downplay the importance of my work. The phrase “just a stay-at-home mom” feels like a humbling confession of mediocrity. I mean, who wouldn’t want to be a doctor, a lawyer, or a journalist? Those are the jobs that seem to carry weight, right?
But here I am, a stay-at-home mom, and I fumble with my answer. I look at the other person and wonder if they’re silently judging my “unambitious” choice. I’m just a stay-at-home mom. For some reason, that little sentence often comes with a side of guilt. It’s a sentiment I’ve wrestled with more than I care to admit. And I feel the need to justify my choice. So, I’ve started to add a few extra details to my response: “I also homeschool my kids and run a small online store.” It’s as if I’m trying to prove my worth, to demonstrate that I’m more than “just” a stay-at-home mom.
But what if—just what if—I started seeing my role as a stay-at-home mom from a different angle? What if I stood tall, proud of my chosen calling, instead of hiding behind those words? Not just because I chose it but because it’s deeply connected to the heart of God’s plan for work in the world.
The Theology of Work
When we talk about work, we must understand fundamentally that the God who created us is Himself, a worker. While on earth, Jesus was a teacher for three years but worked as a carpenter/mason (Mark 6:3) for around 18 to 20 years before that. Jesus wasn’t waltzing through life; he was working. His hands weren’t soft; they were probably calloused, scarred, and toughened by the work he did. Jesus, in whom all the fullness of God resides, shows us that God is not idle—He is actively at work.
Therefore, as Christians, we believe that work is a fundamental aspect of our humanity. God created us to work, and through our labour, we reflect His image.
But what does that mean for stay-at-home moms like me?
It’s easy to feel like our work doesn’t “count” because we’re not bringing home a paycheck. We don’t get the flashy title that comes with being a high-powered professional, and sometimes, it feels like society only values work that earns money. But if we believe, as Christian moms, that God has called us to this specific work, does the absence of financial gain truly define our calling’s worth?
You may have heard of Elizabeth Elliott, whose husband Jim was martyred by the Auca Indians in Ecuador in 1956. She writes like this — “My house, my kitchen, my desk, my very body are meant to be holy places in this world for the eternal God.” This belief aligns with one of the core principles of the Theology of Work Project, which asserts: “We also affirm that work outside the church is just as much ‘full-time Christian service’ as work within the church. All Christians are called—and commanded—to carry out everything they do, at all times, as service to Christ.”
The Apostle Paul reminds us in Colossians 3:23-24, “Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people. Remember that the Lord will give you an inheritance as your reward and that the Master you are serving is Christ.” (NLT)
Os Guinness explains it like this, “First and foremost, we are called to Someone (God), not to something…” It is God who calls us to a specific task—whether it’s teaching, business, preaching, voluntary work, or motherhood.
Embracing the Ordinary
I’ll be the first to admit that being a stay-at-home mom is not an easy job. It’s a lonely and often thankless one. One where sometimes your own identity gets stripped away.
At such times, it is easy to overlook the ordinary because everyday life becomes just that—ordinary. The cycle of laundry, washing dishes, late-night feedings, and toddler tantrums is endless. Sometimes, it feels like all we do is put out fires and manage chaos. But let me tell you something: those seemingly “ordinary” moments hold more value than we realise.
In her book Glory in the Ordinary: Why Your Work in the Home Matters to God, Courtney Reissig shares that work at home isn’t just about managing a household. It’s about loving and serving our families through those tasks. Each time we pour a glass of water for our child, wipe away a tear, or read a bedtime story, we participate in God’s larger purpose to love and serve His creation. We’re not “just” doing chores—we embody love and service, just like Christ did for us. Jesus commanded us to make disciples, and what better way to fulfil that mandate than by raising our children to love and follow Him?
Our Work Doesn’t Define our Value
The world tends to categorise work into two categories: “important” and “not-so-important.” We might think of pastors, doctors, teachers, and CEOs as the “important” workers. But a stay-at-home mom? Well, not so much.
And so, we often put unrealistic expectations on ourselves. We see other moms doing more—running small businesses, hosting Bible studies, and volunteering—and we think, “Why can’t I do that too?” It’s easy to feel like we’re falling short like our work is less valuable or unworthy of praise.
But here’s a comforting thought: You don’t have to do more to be valuable. You absolutely can if you want to! You can work outside the home—or do whatever it is that God has laid on your heart. But the important thing is that your worth doesn’t change based on what you do. Our worth comes from knowing that, as Christ-followers, every task we do, no matter how ordinary—wiping a counter, breaking a fight between siblings, or teaching math—is done for God’s glory. It’s all holy work.
Identity and Purpose
In the ongoing conflict known as the “mommy wars,” stay-at-home moms and career moms are often locked in a battle to prove who is the most content and fulfilled. Both stay-at-home moms and moms working outside the home proudly claim they have the “best job in the world,” thus fueling the ongoing debate over which path is truly more meaningful. Well, honestly, we’re all focusing on the wrong issue here.
We have taken a few select passages from Scripture (Proverbs 31 and Titus 2:3-5) and used them to define the entirety of what it means to be a woman. We have confined our identities to these verses and staked our positions—either as homemakers or professionals— as though we have something to prove.
However, neither role was ever intended to fully define the identity of a woman of God. I love my children, but they were never meant to be my source of ultimate contentment. Just like no job was ever meant to be one’s sole foundation of joy. God made me for a greater purpose; my ultimate calling is to live for His glory.
To rightly understand our work as stay-at-home moms, we must return to the beginning—to the root of our identity. Eve was created to help Adam fulfil God’s mission—not merely Adam’s mission. Our ultimate calling, therefore, is to live life for His glory. Everything we do—whether at home or in the workplace—should be driven by the purpose of serving that greater calling.
Conclusion: Our Work Has Eternal Value
From the very beginning, in the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve were tasked with cultivating the land and taking care of God’s creation. God made them caretakers of His world. Now, as stay-at-home moms, we continue that sacred work in the everyday tasks of feeding, nurturing, and discipling our children.
One practical principle we can follow is asking ourselves—What does it mean to please the Lord in this situation? Once we understand how we can please the Lord in what we do at any given time, we begin to realise just how important our work is, whether paid or unpaid. Despite the diversity of their tasks, a doctor, a Sunday school teacher, a plumber, and a stay-at-home mother are all workers and are called to consciously and diligently do their work as service to the Lord.
Dorothy Sayers wrote: ‘Work is not, primarily, a thing one does to live, but the thing one lives to do. It is, or it should be, the full expression of the worker’s faculties, the thing in which he finds spiritual, mental, and bodily satisfaction, and the medium in which he offers himself to God.’
So, to the moms out there who might have, at some point, felt like I did in the past, like your work doesn’t matter, I want to remind you: it does. The work of caring for your home and your children and being present for your family is valuable in God’s eyes. You’re not “just” a stay-at-home mom. You’re a kingdom worker, doing holy work right where you are. Every time you patiently teach a child to tie his shoelaces, or when you calmly repeat the same instruction for the umpteenth time—you are offering yourself as an act of worship to the God who made you.
So, the next time someone asks us, “What do you do?” let us stand tall and proudly say, “I’m a stay-at-home mom, and I’m doing the work that God has called me to with all my heart.”
This article was first published on Indiaanya. It was included by Tim Challies on his Daily A La Carte list of articles.
