Chief Executive Mom

Visit me at my new website - anniecrawford.com Every time I get together with other women, the time is inevitably too short. A great question or converstaion will just begin about the time a tantrum ensues or I must deliver one child from another. However, contrary to our common fatigued feeling, mothers do still have intellects and I believe that every faculty God gave us He intended to be vigorously exercised! I wanted to create this blog to be a tool for engaging in all those conversations we mean to begin and know we need. This is a place to share what thoughts, feelings, questions, struggles, joys and laughters need to be shared. Come here when you have the need and 5 spare minutes, from the convienance of your own home. You don't have to pack up the kids! Come to encourage, grow and honestly wrestle with this awesome job we have been given; to love, train and nurture a generation.

I somewhat cringe at the title I created for this blog. I really hate cliche expressions and contrived phrases, but I am striving for the most universal cultural icon I can find that evokes a sense of ambition, excellence and achievement. (I must give credit for the idea to Creative Counterpart by Linda Dillow. Excellent book.)

How many women do you know who exhibit these characteristics in their primary job of motherhood? No wonder so many mothers are bored, depressed, frustrated or discontent. These are the characteristics of anyone who does their job poorly and unimaginatively. (Now don't think about whether they admit to feeling this way or not. Examine the evidence of their lives. BabyTalk just published an article this January about how much women lie about their children and their role as mom. This is the link. An atrocious article in my opinion.)

I also want to indirectly and ironically evoke the thought of power and control with the express purpose of crushing it. Don't let me confuse you. By ambition, I do not mean selfish ambition, a characteristic certainly pictured by last year's corporate scandals, but a drive to achieve true excellence. Achievement is not bad. I do not believe that the human drive to excel, create and achieve is a result of the fall. God created us to reflect Him in the world and all that God does is excellent, creative and a most wonderous achievement to behold. It is a God given blessing to want to imitate Him. I belive our desire to excel, create and achieve in order to promote ourselves above others is wrong. It is the "self" in our ambition that is repulsive and grotesque. Achievements motivated by love and shaped by purity andintegrity are a joy to behold. Many women are confused (and I must admit another driving motive to this blog is to encourage sharp thinking as opposed to the usual mental emoting that we women get so easily caught up in) about the feminine role of nurturing and serving. Women are not meant to be weak and passive. That is certainly not what the Bible teaches and please, literally for God's sake, would you get that picture out of your mind! Women are meant to be tender, loving, caring. To truly accomplish that in a day takes a great deal of strength and proactive effort.

I want this blog to be a place where iron sharpens iron, but please remember that knowledge without love is a clanging symbol. Take out the cymbols with the trash. And I know I am a terrible speller, so yes, I am open to any needed editorial critiques as well.