It's not easy being a child these days.
No matter how adult my children are, no matter where they are, they will always and always be in my thoughts and prayers, every day, all the time. Why? Because they are connected to my heart. And I know that life in the big wide world is not easy to manage. I know this because it is not easy for me to always navigate.
I listen to my children, others, talking around tables, gathered in groups at restaurants; watch their characterization on television shows and movies. I wonder if we understand as well as we think we do what it's really like to grow up during this season. Sometimes it seems that so much has changed, today's children live in a different world than the one I grew up in. The hurried, harried pace of it all wearies me as a mother, and I can only imagine its effect on this generation which has known nothing else.
As the world's raging current rushes past our homes, what happens inside?
Are we creating spaces of peace for our children? When they come to us with the hard questions about the difficult things in life, do we have real answers for them? Are we well-equipped to buffer the young ones from the onslaught of the world even as we prepare them to make their way--and even overcome-- in it? Do we give support when their lives are dark and difficult and love them through each passage?
They say the more things change, the more they stay the same. And I do believe this is true when we think about what our children really need from us as mothers.
They don't need sweet platitudes of faith that will momentarily placate their emotions. They need the authentic strength that comes from the true foundation of a biblical worlveiw and a proper understanding of the real Christ who is worthy of their worship. They need an unwavering, internal moral and spiritual compass that will help them weather today's storms and tomorrow's and will guide them for the rest of their lives. They also need to see what real faith looks like when lived day in, day out; so they will have a pattern to follow.
The process of providing such gifts to my children is what I've come to think of as the ministry of motherhood. I believe it's central to the calling of anyone God has privileged to bring children into this world.
If you are a mother, it's your ministry too." ~from The Ministry of Motherhood
How do you feel about the ministry of motherhood?