“Let your father and your mother be glad, And let her who bore you rejoice.” (Proverbs 23:25)
ON MOTHERHOOD
Motherhood is evidence of God’s mercy.
The Bible teaches that God made mankind to be his image bearers. He gave Adam and Eve the royal task of filling the earth with more image bearers of the one, true King.
When our first parents disobeyed God in the garden of Eden, all of their descendants fell into sin along with them. Because of our sin, we all deserve God’s just wrath. Life, therefore, is an undeserved gift from God, never to be presumed or rejected. Motherhood is evidence that God is patient toward us, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.
Motherhood is a gift even when your feelings disagree.
Even though we believe what the Bible says about life being an undeserved gift, we often treat the presence of life as the gift we didn’t ask for. The dirty dishes in the sink or the laundry in the basket—evidence of God’s provision for hungry mouths and naked bodies—become a burden. A baby’s cries in the night or a child’s exuberant “outside voice”—evidence of God’s grace to sustain life in this sin-sick world—become an annoyance. Our fickle feelings about the gift of motherhood must submit to God’s truth.
Motherhood gives glory to Jesus that echoes in eternity.
Around the clock, while we are driving to work, crafting a report, feeling a baby kick us from the inside out, sleeping peacefully, or salting the ice on our front porch, the throne room in heaven is reverberating with unceasing praise for the Lamb who was slain. Our mothering work done unto Jesus is part and parcel of the new creation that is coming.
When a mom’s calendar is full of things to do, her heart is full of worries, and her hands are full, she needs to remember that her work done unto Jesus is part and parcel of the kingdom that is breaking into this old age. All the earth will be filled with his glory.
– Gloria Furman (a wife, mother of four, doula, and writer)