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HOUSTON DAILY JOURNAL Moms who juggle family, career often run on empty Question: You’ve talk ed about being a full-time mother vs. having a full time career. Give us your view of a woman handling both responsibilities simul taneously. Is it doable, and is it smart? Dr. Dobson: Some women are able to maintain a busy career and a bustling family at the same time, and they do it beautifully. I admire them for their discipline and dedication. It has been my observa tion, however, that this dual responsibility is a formula for exhaustion and frustra tion for many others. It can be a never-ending struggle for survival. Why? Because there is only so much energy within the human body, and when it is invested in one place it is not available for use in another. Consider what it is like to be a mother of young chil What really matters in life What really matters in life? In moving through life’s jour ney, most of us take similar paths. We obtain an educa tion. We marry. We raise a family. We secure a job to provide the wherewithal to sus tain a family, educate our children, own a home and achieve career satisfac tion. A select few, by merit or through circum stances, rise to the top of the soc i o - Billy Powell Columnist economic scale and attain great fame and fortune. Those who make pos sessions, power and pres tige their sole objective have missed the whole purpose of life. In “Live a Life that Matters” Michael Josephson defines what is important in life: “Ready or not, someday the end will come. There will be no more surprises, no min utes, hours or days. All the things you collected, whether treasured or for gotten,' will pass to some one else. Your wealth, fame and temporal power will shrivel to irrelevance. It will not matter what you owned or what you owed. Your grudges, ambi tions, plans, and to-do lists will expire. The wins and losses that once seemed so important will fade away. It won’t matter where you came from, or on what side of the tracks you lived. It won’t matter whether you are beautiful or brilliant. Even your gender and skin color will be irrelevant. So H THESE SERVICE PROVIDERS 1 J I, y HAVE SPONSORED THIS S~* L- - g L- C k D I - t (church & Keligion» o . Support Your Local Religious Institution And Place Your Ad On This Page By Calling 478-987-1823! YOUR AD COULD be HERE! 11812 U.S. 41 N.| Perry, GA 987-1112 ( dv&CEXS Flooring^JVaEßlCA dren who must arise early in the morning, get her kids dressed, fed and located for the day, then drive to work, labor from 9 to 5, go by the grocery store and pick up food for dinner, retrieve the kids at the child-care center, and then drive home. She is dog-tired by that point and needs to put her feet up for a few minutes. But she can’t rest. The kids arehungry and they’ve been waiting to see her all day. “Read me a story, Mom,” says the most needy. This beleaguered woman then begins another four to six hours of very demand ing “mothering” that will extend into the evening. She must fix dinner, wash the dishes, bathe the baby, help with homework, and give each child some “qual ity time.” Then comes the task of what will matter? How will your days be measured? What will matter is not what you bought, but what you built, not what you got, but what you gave. What will matter is not your success, but your sig nificance. What will mat ter is not what you learned, but what you taught. What will matter is every act of integrity, compassion, courage or sacrifice that enriched, empowered or encouraged others. What will matter is not your competence, but your character. What will mat ter is not how many people you knew, but how many will feel a lasting loss when you’re gone. What will matter is not your memo ries, but the memories that live in those who loved you. What will matter is how long you will be remem bered, but whom and for what.” Jesus rebuked those who lived only for themselves with no concern for the needy. At the final judg ment, these self-centered individuals will hear Christ say: ‘“Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hun gry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hun gry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in pris on, and did not minister to you?’ Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’” Terry Antique Mall 631 Courtney Hodges Btvd. V Perry, GA 31069 tfoctto Perry Arnnial 478-987-8775 i£W§iC perryantiques@alltel.net AIA #•11121 ocSgSr V 3/ getting the tribe in bed, say ing the prayers, and bring ing six glasses of water to giggling kids who want to stall. I get tired just thinking of a sched ule like this. You might ask, “Where is the hus band and Dr. James Dobson Focus on the Family father in all this exertion? Why isn’t he car rying his share of the home work?” Well, he may be working a 15-hour day at his own job. Getting started in a busi ness or a profession often demands that kind of com mitment. Or he may simply not choose to help his wife. Despite elections, don’t count out conservative Christians By RICHARD N. OSTLING For AP Weekly Features What did the 2006 elections tell us about the political role of conservative Christians, which has been analyzed to death in newspapers, broad casts and books? It’s obvious they lost friends in Congress, but don’t count them out, advises John Green: They’re a good chunk of the Republican coalition and will remain so. And they at least won bans on same sex marriage in seven more states (though narrowly los ing in Arizona). Green, a University of Akron (Ohio) political sci entist and fellow with Washington’s Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, sees crosscurrents for Democrats. They learned this year that religious appeals and mod eration on social issues help win elections. Yet the past three elections showed Democrats’ increasing dependence on voters who never attend worship. So Green thinks both parties face tricky internal battles on religious strategy going into the 2008 presiden tial race. Religious politick ing has been a continual fac tor in America from Colonial days through the abolition of slavery to today’s cul ture wars. Recent decades brought notable growth for conservative, Bible-believing Protestant congregations. Some but not all of their members became politi cal activists, often work ing alongside conservative Roman Catholics, Mormons or Orthodox Jews. All this perplexes western Europeans and those Americans who share their secularized out look. But Green says that on a worldwide scale, America’s religiosity isn’t unusual and takes a milder form than in many developing nations of the “Global South.” “From this perspective, Arnold's Auto Service 1202 Main St. Perry, Ga. 31069 Complete Car Maintenance Pick-up & Delivery "Road Service Call Thomas or Shelby 987-9439 waul Perny UNiiComfiany Friemtfy, Professional Service Ben BarHett & Hubert Bennett, Rf r.lSTUtlfi PHARMACIA Is M**t lanumm Pktu Acctjtue 00041003 1036 MACON Rl>. • PERRY, GA 988-1144 RELIGION That is a common complaint among working mothers. “Not fair,” you say. I agree, but that’s the way the sys tem often works. The most difficult aspect of this lifestyle is the constancy of the load. Most of us could maintain such a schedule for a week or two, but the working mother must do it month after month for years on end. On weekends there’s housecleaning to do, clothes to be ironed and pants to be mended. And this is the pace she maintains when things are going right. She has no reserve of time or energy when a member of the family gets sick or the car breaks down or marital problems develop. A little push in any direc tion and she could go over the edge. Admittedly, I have painted a more stressful scenario it’s the Europeans who are the odd countries out.” One segment of Americans “is quite secular, or secular izing, like in Europe. But the great bulk of American society is like the rest of the world” in its religious traditionalism, he says. This especially causes conster nation among “people who hang around universities,” the professor remarks. That scenario is amply supported by Pew Forum poll data from the U.S. and nine developing nations, report ed a month before Election Day. Pew’s project focused on Pentecostal and related charismatic churches, world Christianity’s fastest grow ing sector. Other findings: -Scripture: Respondents chose among three options: “The Bible is the actual word of God and to be taken literally, word for word,” or is God’s word but shouldn’t always be taken literally, or is mere human writings. (“Quran” replaced the Bible with Muslim interviews and “sacred scriptures” with other faiths.) The first, strictest option was chosen by 35 percent of Americans but majorities in other nations except Chile and South Korea. Literalism was strongest in Guatemala (77 percent), Kenya (80 per cent) and Nigeria (88 per cent). -Moral absolutes: Asked whether “there are clear guidelines about what’s good or evil that apply to everyone regardless of their situation,” 44 percent of Americans “completely” agreed but people elsewhere posted higher percentages, again except Chile and South Korea. -Homosexuality: Half of Americans and Brazilians said it can “never be justi fied,” but except for Chile those in other nations expressed even stronger opposition, reaching 98 per cent in Kenya and Nigeria. Serving Houston County Perry • Warner Robins Member FDIC CBST Bank of Middle Georgia 'Jfetv @iea*ten& i m 736 Main Street Perry, Georgia 31069 Jackie & Terry Mullis 987-1965 JMMOO9J [00040099 than most families have to endure. But not by much. Overcommitted and frazzled families are commonplace in our culture. Husbands and wives have no time for each other. Life is nothing but work, work, work. They are continually frus trated, irritable and har ried. They don’t take walks, read the Scriptures together, or do anything that is “fun.” Their sex life suffers because exhausted people don’t even make love meaningfully. They begin to drift apart and eventually find them selves with “irreconcilable differences.” It is a tragic pattern I have been observ ing for years. The issue, then, is not whether a woman should choose a career and be a mother, too. Church Briefs Celebrate recovery at Unity Need help for a hurt, hang-upor habit? Celebrate Recovery meetings are at Unity Baptist Church of Bonaire every Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. Children’s program is available. Unity Baptist is located at 79 Highway 96, between Houston Lake Road and Moody Road. For informa tion call 922-0063. New motto “Speaking Where The Bible Speaks” is the new motto for the Bonaire Church of Christ. Sunday services include Bible study Thankful for lack of knowledge We are living in an era of awareness of the importance of quality education. It is beneficial to take advantage of every oppor tunity to increase in wis dom. To the contrary, there are some things beyond our conception, which we would not care to learn, especially from firsthand experience. A lady offering oral prayer acknowledged free dom of worship, adding words of gratitude for not knowing what it is like to be deprived of this privi lege. As we give thanks for this lack of knowledge, let us unite our hearts in prayer for those who are deprived freedom of worship. We iIM mmm W®wimt Wayg/fapo® Es Re adftnf 11© QlaaHtfEMtU* Run Your Employment Ad With Us, And You'll Find Them/ —mi $2 50 PER LINE PER DAY sl3°° PER COLUMN INCH DISPLAY fjY, THE BANK W OF PERRY Please worship at the church of your choice 1006 Main St. • Perry 100040090 987-2552 Member FDIC SmbtAorUruf * • j4Uen*ti**a 478-988-2448 740 Main Street Perry GA 31069 *Viait 'Z&I Online www.sewihgbees.com FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 2006 ♦ Of course she has that right, and it is nobody’s busi ness but hers and her hus band’s. I would simply plead that you not allow your fam ily to get sucked into that black hole of exhaustion. However you choose to divide the responsibilities of working and family manage ment, reserve some time and energy for yourselves - and for each other. Your children deserve the best that you can give them, too. Dr. Dobson is founder and chairman of the board of the nonprofit organization Focus on the Family, P.O. Box 444, Colorado Springs, CO. 80903; or www.family. org. Questions and answers are excerpted from “The Complete Marriage and Family Home Reference Guide ” and “Bringing Up Boys, ” both published by Tyndale House. at 10 a.m., and worship ser vices at 11 a.m. and 6 p.m. Wednesday Bible Study begins at 7 p.m. Bonaire Church of Christ is locat ed at 459 Highway 247 in Bonaire. Phillip Stuckey is the evangelist. All visitors are welcome. Divorce recov' ery workshop A divorce recovery work shop is being held at First Christian Church, U.S. 41 N. and Perry Parkway. Meetings will be held every Thursday for 10 weeks, starting at 7 p.m. The workshop and childcare are free. Call 956-4800 to sign up. might also choose to give thanks for not knowing what the future holds . . . thanks for knowing Who Earline Cole Reflections has chosen . . . thanks for showering us with unde served blessings . . . “Let the peace of Christ rule in (our) heart/s, to which indeed (we) were called in one body - and be thankful.” - Colossians 3:15 tine Ad* Dradtme: 2 day* prior a* 4 pm Display Ads Doad»iw 2 day* prior at Noon Cass Us At 4T9 f **■}**” ** D9-995~ft94 •> \3r33nEiry LONGHORN BUTCHER SHOP YOUR HOMETOWN BUTCHER SINCE 1976 1207 Sunset Avc. • Perry Plaza Perry, GA 31069 I 00040089 Lee Lasseter 478-987-5711 Greer Lasseter La^ e * (/PERRY FLORIST 734 Main Street Perry, Georgia 31069 987-1656 800-516-1004 00040100 3B holds the future . . . thanks for His always being near to watch over us and to guide us in the way He 40094