C. S. Lewis on the Work of Housewives

I have a hobby of collecting quotes on the theology of work. I am also preparing for my medical mission trip to Haiti. Here's a nice quote by C. S. Lewis that someone posted on Facebook that fits both goals. It highlights the eternal perspective on the value of our work and it helps me to prepare for my return from Haiti. I always need a change in perspective when I return from Haiti. In Haiti, God blesses us with a staff at the guest house that does some of the daily chores such as shopping, cooking, dishes and general clean-up. This gives us time that we can use to focus on devotions to God, on serving the Haitians in the clinics and on ministering to other members of the team. When I come back and start doing my daily chores again, it is a let down. I sometimes feel I am wasting time doing "menial labor" when I can be serving God. However, these routine chores can be worship and these daily tasks are serving God. Lewis in his letter to a "A Lady" is trying to encourage her to see the broader perspective on how her work serves God and society.

I think I can understand that feeling about a housewife’s work being like that of Sisyphus (who was the stone-rolling gentleman). But it is surely in reality the most important work in the world. What do ships, railways, mines, cars, government etc. exist for except that people may be fed, warmed, and safe in their own homes? As Dr. Johnson said, ‘To be happy at home is the end of all human endeavour’. (1st to be happy to prepare for being happy in our own real home hereafter; 2nd in the meantime to be happy in our houses). We wage war in order to have peace, we work in order to have leisure, we produce food in order to eat it. So your job is the one for which all others exist...
(p. 262, The Letters of C. S. Lewis, “To a Lady, 16 March 1955”).