in praise of motherhood

“Mary, did you know that your baby boy would one day walk on water?

Mary, did you know that your baby boy would save our sons and daughters?

Did you know that your baby boy has come to make you new?

This child that you’ve delivered, will soon deliver you.

Mark Lowry, “Mary Did You Know?”

I can’t help but wonder about the mother-hood of Mary… The one chosen and favored above all other women to be the one to love on, feed, nurture, change, clothe, rock, and clean up after the Child Messiah.  Did she ever grow weary of her laundry?  Did she ever think that her job as a mom, even a mom of the Christ Child, was one endless and thankless task after another?  I wonder if Mary ever felt like a failure as a mom.  Did she ever lose her temper with her children?  Was she ever impatient when her days felt long and supper was yet to be prepared???  Did she ever feel overwhelmed at the task set before her?  Did she ever second guess her mothering decisions?  Did she have mother-guilt?  Did she ever feel as if she had failed her children or the Lord because she didn’t stop her work to focus on her young ones?  Or did she ever feel insignificant in comparison to others and to what other mothers were doing?  Did she ever look out her window and long to do more in life than the dishes?

One day as I pondered the woman charged with raising the Son of God, and feeling a bit condemned, frustrated, and unsure of the job I was doing as a mom, the Lord gave me these words.  I am praying that they will be a blessing to another discouraged mom out there… because they sure were to me!  Though God has called me to other “jobs” as a woman, when I remember Mary, I am drawn back to what matters most in this season of my life: the grateful and humble blessing of being a mom.

Daughter, did you know…

that when you are living in obedience and submission to Me ~ whatever I’ve given you to do,

when you have done it as unto Me,you have had an eternal impact.  At home.  At work.  At school.  At church.  In community.  World wide.  The saying is true: The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world.

Mary did the mundane tasks of motherhood.  The thankless and endless tasks.  What if she had not?  What if she had chosen to use her time and influence doing something “more important” than her God-appointed work of mothering?   

I chose her because I knew that though she would make mistakes from time to time, her heart was fully Mine.  So I entrusted to her the work of day-in-day-out 24/7/365 investment in the souls I placed within the walls of her home.I called Mary.  

And I have called you, too.  This very moment, to be right where you are, to be doing the “job” I have placed in front of you to do. Only I know the eternal significance of much of what you are called to do as you mother.  You may never know, but I do, and I use every bit of what you do as a mom.  I use it all for my glory if you will do it unto Me…

Dirty diapers.  

Dirty dishes. 

Dirty clothes.  

Dirty home.  

Hungry family.  

Busy schedules.  

Heavy responsibilities.  

Hidden tears.  

Even empty arms.  

I will honor myself through every bit of it, each act a mission from Heaven, when done as an offering unto Me.

Daughter, did you know that when you did to the least of these, you did it unto Me?  

What you do matters…

 With love,
Your Eternal Father

 

In Ann Voskamp’s One Thousand Gifts, she writes:

“When service is unto people, the bones can grow weary, the frustration deep.  Because, agrees Dorothy Sayers, ‘whenever man is made the center of things, he becomes the storm-center of trouble.  The moment you think of serving people, you begin to have a notion that other people owe you something for your pains… You will begin to bargain for reward, to angle for applause.’

“When the laundry is for the dozen arms of children or the dozen legs, it’s true, I think I’m due some appreciation.  So comes a storm of trouble and lightening strikes joy. But when Christ is at the center, when dishes, laundry, work, is my song of thanks to Him, joy rains.  Passionately serving Christ alone makes us the loving servant to all.  When the eyes of the heart focus on God, and the hands on always washing the feet of Jesus alone – the bones, they sing joy, and the work returns to its purest state: eucharisteo.  The work becomes worship, a liturgy of thankfulness.

‘The work we do is only our love for Jesus in action,’ writes Mother Teresa.  ‘If we pray the work…if we do it to Jesus, if we do it for Jesus, if we do it with Jesus… that’s what makes us content.’ “  (p. 194)

Serving Christ alone makes us the loving servant to all…

What you do matters.  To God.  Both now, and forever.