Motherhood
This is a short piece I wanted to write for Mother’s Day because for a while I have been worried about the influence of our culture on our view of Mums, and I wanted to encourage us all in God’s wonderful and high purpose for Motherhood.
Today is Mother’s Day – its not a biblical idea to have a day to celebrate Mums but it is a good one because Motherhood is very important to God and to our World. All of us will have had a Mum, some may be dead, and we miss them, some may be or have been not that great, and we mourn that. Some will be or have been great, and we celebrate that.
Being a Mum is not a right, not every woman will be a Mum, but it is a gift from God and so we need to remind ourselves just how much of a gift it is in a culture which increasingly thinks very little of Motherhood.
How many here have found themselves saying ‘I’m just a Mum’ with the feeling that there’s a great big ‘L’ for loser painted on their foreheads. How many Mums are convinced to go back to jobs for fear that Motherhood will ruin their careers and turn their brains to mush. There are many such lies about Motherhood, so we need to remind ourselves of what God says.
God says the gift of motherhood, if given, and again we want to recognise this is not a gift given to all, which can be very painful. But if given, Motherhood biblically is a woman’s most important role. God created women with an amazing privilege, to bring life into the World! Physically he has made you to nurture and care for life, but not just childbirth, continued upbringing and home management too, cf. 1 Tim 5:14, Titus 2:4-5. We want to celebrate Mums who make every effort they can with the time God gives them to raise God given children and manage home life. This is not old fashioned. It does not turn your brain to mush although it is a different kind of labour, and it is not a waste of talents and gifting. It’s a faithful response to God’s call on your life which honours him greatly and does great good in the family and society.
It's also a means by which the word of God will be proved to be right and good. As Mum’s make a priority of raising children and managing their homes Paul tells Titus cf. Titus 2:4-5, nobody will be able to revile the World of God. That seems farfetched in our day and age, which values career so highly and yet in Sharon James book God’s design for Women she quotes a study which says [1]‘80% of Mums and pregnant women would give up work to be at home if they could afford to. Whilst only 20% of women make a career their lifelong priority’. Perhaps, the word of God is not so far off the mark?
Running a household is an art and a science. You need to be hard working and organised. It is often mundane and thankless. Mums tend to be highly productive balancing the priority of the home with other responsibilities. Mums need to be thanked more often and need the help of older women to resist the lie that gender equality can only be found by forsaking the primary calling of the home for the sake of a career. Very few people on their deathbeds wish they’d spent more time at the office, but by then it’s too late! We need to push back against this damaging lie.
Finally, the gift of motherhood has immense spiritual importance. Susan Hunt in Spiritual Mothering says, [2]“Motherhood brings out the best in women because it requires laying self aside”. Being a Mum is hard work. It’s a wonderful picture of God’s servant hearted love for his children. On top of all the physical services our Mums love us best by praying for us. Praying for our character and teaching us the fear of the Lord. Mums together with Dad’s disciple lives for eternity with big aims that we would grow to be people who love Christ and serve his Kingdom. No career can match the importance of this work. Praise God for Mums who take this seriously and give as much time as they can for this purpose, often at great cost to themselves.
Being a Mum, being a stay-at-home Mum, is one of the highest callings God can give. Make the most of it, the time flies! We give thanks today for Mums, but particularly we give thanks to God for his purpose in motherhood.
A good gift for a Mum would be: Risen Motherhood by Emily Jensen and Laura Wifler, Harvest House Publishers, 2019 (www.thegoodbook.co.uk/risen-motherhood)
[1] James, Sharon. God’s Design for Women: Biblical Womanhood for Today, Evangelical Press, 2005, pp.182 (or read the whole of Chapter 11)
[2] Hunt, Susan. Spiritual Mothering: the Titus 2 Model for Women Mentoring Women, Crossway Books, 1992 (quoted in James, Sharon. God’s Design for Women pp.190