The HomeMaker

This weekend was the Women's General Conference for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. This always preceds our General Conference by one week and is an awesome way to begin preparing to hear the words of the prophets.

One of the talks given at this conference really touched me.  The speaker, whose name I forget, was telling about a mother who applied to her daughter's school to be a presenter for Career Day.  Her career was a mother.  She went to two classrooms and spoke about all the things a mother has to know- medicine, psychology, culinary arts, chauffering, etc.  The next year, she was invited to present in six classrooms.  As the speaker concluded this story, they showed a picture of this mother with her career day badge on.  It had her name, and as her career listed Homemaker.

For some reason, this picture with this name tag really struck me. I've always thought of the word homemaker to be a synonym with other terms- mother, stay-at-home-mom, and housewife.  But as I stared at this name badge, I realized that a homemaker is NOT these other things.  A woman can be all those things at the same time, but they truly are different things.

I struggle to find the words to describe exactly what I mean, so let me slip into English teacher mode for a moment while I try to explain myself.  Look at the word.  It's a compound word, comprised of two smaller words: Home, and Maker.  Put together in this way, it literally means one who makes a home.  To further explain my thinking, let's define home.  A home is not a house or dwelling or where we reside.  A home is a place of comfort, tranquility, support, and love.  A home is a place where you feel safe emotionally, where you learn and grow and thrive.  A home is where you learn of God, learrn to be like God, and learn to love God.

This really makes a homemaker a special person.  We often think of homemakers as women because the term is used synonymously with the other terms I listed above.  But it doesn't have to be a woman or mother.  It can be anyone who makes a home.  In addition, not every mother is automatically also a home maker, whether they choose to be a housewife or stay-at-home mom or not.  Just because a woman works outside the home does not mean she is not a homemaker.

I grew up fortunate enough to have a mother who was both a stay-at-home-mom/housewife AND a homemaker.  I remember HATING practicing the piano before school, but there she was making sure I did it.  And you know what, as an adult, I can't thank her enough for being so 'mean' when I was little.  I remember not always liking what she made for dinner (I was VERY picky), but always having healthy food to eat and someone to motivate me to eat just one more bite.  I remember holding Family Home Evenings weekly where we learned as a family about the gospel of Jesus Christ.  We memorized the ten commandments and the Articles of Faith.  We learned the scripture stories.  We even learned to teach, as my parents encouraged my sister and me to teach the lesson once a month.  We even learned to lead music in Family Home Evening.  And if I ever came home from school crying, I had her there to comfort me and cheer me up.

I hope to be able to give the same gift to my children.  Thinking about all this made me feel guilty, as I haven't been as good as my mom was at things like keeping the house clean (she was mean and made me pick up and dust UNDER items).  I also haven't been as good at reading the scriptures with my kids as my parents were with me.  But right there with the guilt is the comfort of the Atonement.  Each day is a new day.  Our Savior doesn't care how we were in the past as long as we repent and change for the better.  That was why he suffered in Gethsemane for us.


Thanks to all the mothers and homemakers out there.  The world owes you a big thank you.

If you would like to watch this Women's Conference, I highly recommend it. It is AMAZING.  The link to it is here.