Called to Motherhood?

From chapter one in The Mission of Motherhood, by Sally Clarkson.

There are some big thoughts here... take your time- maybe read it over a couple times. OR get the book!


"God designed motherhood to be a deeply meaningful role. We mothers have the opportunity to influence eternity by building a spiritual legacy in the lives of our children. Through our teaching and infulence, morality can be learned and modeled,  love and kindness are taught and received, purpose and vision are ignited and passed on. ...

... I have come to picture the heart of each child as a treasure chest.

 Each chest is empty and needs to be filled with the riches of unconditional love, spiritual nature, and the emotional heritage of family and traditions; with mental stimulation that comes from excellent sources of truth, morality, and inspiration; with a sense of physical and emotional security; and with the guildelines for all of life, including purpose, relationships, and proper behavior. Each child whose treasure chest is full will have abundant resources on which to draw in the midst of life's demands.

And yet over the years, I have come to realize something else about my role as amother. As important as my role is, and as important as my children are, they are not to be the center of my life, and my central calling is not to motherhood. That would only make for very selfish children, but it could even become a form of idolatry.

My calling as a mother is the same as any other Christian's: to fulfill God's will for our lives and to glorify Him. This means I am to follow the Lord's design for my marriage-- cleaving to my husband, supporting him, honoring him, loving him as my own flesh. I am to be a careful steward of the world in which I live. I am to seek opportunities to bring God's message of redeption to others, to make full use of the gifts and talents he has placed in my life to bring him glory and further his kingdom. And I am to delight in him and worship him and praise him in whatever circumstance I find myself.

But that's just the point. Because God has blessed me with a husband and children, a part of his call to me is to follow his plan for families. And that means that I am to shepherd the hearts of the children whom he has providentially placed in my care. I am to care for them tenderly and to prartener with God and my husband in leading my children to know and love his Word and to follow his will.

This design doesn't mean that I have to lose myself in my children's lives. On the contrary, following God's design for living is the true key to finding myself--- to becoming the person he had in mind for me all along. And saying yes to the mission of motherhood has certainly not meant giving up my ministry. To a great extent, it is my ministry.

I will grow into the kind of person God wants me to be as I live out my life in faith and seek to be faithful in my walk with God; as I nurture and honor my commitment to  my husband and children and family and home; as I exercise my skills, training, and gifts toward those whom God has placed on my path; as I seek to give to the poor and minister to the needy and those in my neighborhood and church while living a life of bold faith in great and wonderful God. At the same time, my children, in the context of walking with me through my life, will gain a clear model of how they can live as well.

... The mission of motherhood is strategic in providing the next generation with wholehearted, emotionally healthy, spiritually alive adults. It is not simply a lifestyle choice. It is a diving calling that will indeed affect eternity. "