Dividing the work

   Biblical gender roles create a lot of controversy sometimes!  But the specifics of that differ from one couple to another, and I can pretty well assume that no two couples divide everything the same way.  God never does in the Bible tell us "women, this is the list of things that you must do, and men, specifically these things are yours, never to be done another way."  
   For example, cooking is for most families the woman's sphere, and it's probably safest to assume in bringing up daughters that it will end up being her area when she's in a home of her own.  However, she may have a husband like my father-in-law!  He has been the cook for many years in their home, and I'm told his work is far more creative than hers ever was.  My own father cooks supper on the weekends for their household. 
   In many families, managing money is a man's task, but not so with my parents.  My mother handles investments, checking, and most of the banking, even though she's a homemaker and therefore the pay is earned by my dad.
   For us, a lot of the divisions come largely as they fall. We work together whenever possible in cleaning.  Brett has a bread machine and is in charge of making bread regularly.  I haven't made a loaf of regular bread in a few years, which has saved me a huge amount of time.  The only times I make yeast breads anymore are the special occasion ones: sticky buns for Fathers Day, coffeecake for Christmas, and hot cross buns for Good Friday.
   I think that dividing the work of home according to strengths, preferences, and occasionally according to who happens to be there at the right time, is far from wrong in a scriptural sense.  Husband and wife are a team, who can work out what each can do.