The joys of motherhood; what motherhood has taught me thus far.

Being a mom is a humbling experience. From the very start you soon realize that you can not do this task on your own and that nothing, not even all the books you’ve read or all the advice you listened to, can prepare you for this mammoth task. It highlights your need to depend on God and accept help from others.

As your newborn lie in your arms it is a picture of complete dependence on you for every need and trust that you will be able to meet all of those needs. This is a reminder of how we should rest in the care of our heavenly Father with no fretting or worrying, just a complete assurance that we are safe and our every need will be taken care of. My dad will take care of me. This reminded me of Psalm 131 verses 1 and 2:

“O, Lord, my heart is not lifted up;

My eyes are not raised too high;

I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me.

But I have calmed and quieted my soul like a weaned child with its mother;

Like a weaned child is my soul within me”

As your newborn grows and starts becoming his or her own sinful self it humbles you even more and bring you to your knees as you can not fulfill their every need or keep them happy, healthy or unscathed form life’s “eina’s”. You can not be God to them and face the task of showing them who God is. This you can only do if you as mother stay connected to the vine, being Jesus and God the father (John 15).

In the words of Lisa-Jo Baker, author of “Surprised by motherhood”;

“Motherhood is the holy, grueling work of being refined by the fire of sleep deprivation and fear and courage and catching yet another round of the stomach bug and still showing up for that recital. Motherhood is a wild free fall into more gut-punch love and worry, discovery and the desire to give up and yet you keep on keeping on.”

Motherhood asks for courage and perseverance even in the daily seemingly mundane tasks. Our popular culture tells us that motherhood is trivial and not important and that women should take their places by force and ambition in a “man’s world”, but this view is counter-Biblical and also counter women’s innate drive to mother.

Motherhood is elevated as an extreme honor in the Bible. Just think of Hannah, mother of Samuel and Mary, mother of Jesus, who were addressed as “favored ones”. All mothers should from the depths of their hearts praise God with Mary’s words in Luke 1 from verse 46:

“My soul magnifies the Lord,

And my spirit rejoices in God my savior,

For he has looked on the humble estate of his servant.

For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed;

For he who is mighty has done great things for me,

And holy is his name.”

Thus the joy of motherhood is that God bestowed favor on you as mother to give you special sanctifying agents in your life to teach you to trust, lean on and rely on Him in everything. The prayer of my heart is that my children may one day rise up and call me blessed (Proverbs 31:28) and that motherhood may have its full effect in my life to humble me, keeping me in a position of fearing God and honoring Him, making it my whole aim to be pleasing to my heavenly Father (2 Cor. 5:9) and that my children will worship God with me for ever in His presence.