A mother is a special gift to mankind.
We can all appreciate her because we’ve all had one. I understand that not all of us have had the best relationships with our mothers but we are talking about the gift of “mothers” – the way God designed.
Children are a gift from God and a woman is used to bring them forth. The woman starts as the vehicle but the mother is the driver from that point on. This means that the woman and the mother can be one-and-the-same or sometimes not. Therefore, a mother is not only biological but spiritual. The mother is called to “drive” or direct that child to and through the path of righteousness, relationship and right standing with God. God himself gave parents a great commission in Proverbs 22:6 that we should “Train up children in the way they should go, even when they are old they will not turn from it”. Though this mandate was given to both the male and the female, let’s take time to focus our attention on what makes a woman a mother to a child the way God prescribes. A mother loves, teaches, nurtures, feeds, organizes, and comforts.
A mother teaches children the wisdom they’ve learned and models character for them. Before schools existed, a mother and father were the main source of learning and training for children. Father’s often taught the affairs of a specific trade or line of work and modeled integrity or a lack thereof. A mother teaches the next generation how to behave and integrate into society.
A mother is a servant.
Don’t be mad or offended by such a statement… Jesus too made himself into a servant saying “the son of man did not come to be served but to serve” (Mark 10:45).
It’s a form of serv
ant leadership. How does a woman serve, you say? She prepares, cooks and serves food to her family. Ok granted, not all women cook but as long as you are making sure that your family is eating balanced meals regularly then you are respecting this criteria. However the service deepens based on the time, effort and investments made in the planning and preparation of the meals served before your family on a daily basis. It’s also a question of consistency and faithfulness. This servant leadership also includes the concept of sound organization techniques to ensure a safe, clean, and structured living environment that fosters the other natures of a mother, mentioned above.
Finally, a mother is called to love and comfort. In this she is called to model the character of God. Does not the scriptures tell us that God is love and preceding Christ’s ascension that He is the comforter? Indeed it does. God gave us mothers to prepare us to recognize what is to be loved and to be comforted and in doing so to recognize Himself. It is very evident and easy to see the parallels and similarities in one’s relationship with a natural or biological father and how it relates to an individual’s relationship with God the father. But a mother too, in so many ways, prepares us for our relationship with God and exemplifies so many characteristics of the heavenly father especially in the attributes of love and comfort.
So much more can be said but this is just some nuggets of truth to think about and recognize whether you have birthed a child or not you can be a mother. A mother of Zion! A mother to one or to many. Allow God to use you to influence and impact a child within your sphere. The mystery and beauty of mothering is that it is lifelong. If they experienced the love, provision, care, teachings and comfort from a mother at some point in life; they will still be inclined to receive mothering from that person in adulthood. Just like our relationship with God is lifelong… we don’t grow out of it. An academic teacher can be like a mother figure and mentor in the life of a student; not because of the subject they taught but the relationship, care and love the child felt from that person. Maybe that person helped shape their character and confidence in a way that others were not willing to invest the time or energy to mold.
An aunt, a grandmother, any woman can mother a child yet imagine how much more rich that mentorship and relationship is when the mother knows God intimately and personally because she is humbled to give out what God has first given to her.
So to all women everywhere…you carry God and everything you carry is intended to be shared with the world in a way that glorifies God…That is a mothering.
Happy Mothers day to ALL women!
