Motherhood isn’t for the faint of heart. It’s challenging, beautiful, and messy. There are moments of sheer annoyance and sheer joy. When my oldest was a baby, I remember thinking, “how can I love someone so much, yet want to drop kick them to the moon??”. Simmer down, I have never actually drop kicked my kid to the moon (although that would be super impressive). As mothers we have such a gut wrenching love for our kids, but simultaneously be driven into a closet, stuffing our faces with our hidden chocolate because if we don’t, then we’ll lose it. I just made a post about pressures of life, and motherhood is definitely at the top of the the list, whether you struggle to start a family of your own or have 10 kids. When you think of women and struggles, motherhood often comes to mind.

If you’re still with me, then let’s look at 3 places in scripture that can help us understand what God has called us to.

1. Proverbs 31:26-28

"She speaks with wisdom, 
and faithful instruction is on her tongue. 
She watches over the affairs of her household 
and does not eat the bread of idleness. 
Her children arise and call her blessed;
her husband also, and he praises her. "

There’s a lot to unpack in these 3 verses! Studying Proverbs, we know that it is a book of metaphors and often called the book of wisdom. This book ends with a beautiful poem about a woman that is led by God’s wisdom. As mothers we are always instructing, and honestly sometimes my instructions are not all that kind. If we don’t faithfully instruct our kids, and show them how to find the wisdom of God then the world will do it for us. It is our privilege to speak wisdom and faithfully instruct our kids. No matter our background or who we used to be, we will always have a chance to gain wisdom. James 1:5 says “If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.” God is our source of wisdom!!!! He gives it generously!!!

Now you know how to gain wisdom, it’s time to apply it. As mothers our jobs are never ending. The author is giving us a few actions of a woman who speaks with wisdom and instructs faithfully. When we step fully into God’s calling for us, then we are empowered by the Holy Spirit to watch over the affairs of our homes. Did you catch that??? It is through the empowerment of the Holy Spirit that we can accomplish anything, from working at a job to cleaning the house and caring for our families. I can not tell you how many times I have found myself so overwhelmed by life that I ignore the empowering of the Spirit and gorge on the bread of idleness. When we walk in the Spirit, then we are present with our families, both physically and mentally, and we have a renewed energy to serve them with love, mercy, grace, and gentleness.

“When we step fully into God’s calling for us, then we are empowered by the Holy Spirit to watch over the affairs of our homes.“

The beautiful result of serving our families the way God intended is shown in verse 28, “Her children arise and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her.” Now hear me out, our kids and husbands will not always praise our work. I mean, they literally had to create a holiday to remind kids and husbands to thank their moms and wives for the work they do on a daily basis. So if you’re looking for ways to get a little recognition, then I can’t help you with that. What I can help you see is that we aren’t called to do these things to get praise, we are called to do them because it glorifies God and points our families to His love, mercy, grace, and sacrifice.

2. Ephesians 6:4

"Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord."

When I was looking for scripture about motherhood, I really really tried to find something that talked about children not irritating parents. Well, there’s nothing, BUT there is this scripture from Ephesians about exasperating our children. I know it says ‘Fathers’, but we all know this is also speaking to us moms. And seriously?? WE shouldn’t exasperate THEM??? I actually laughed at the irony of this, but when I really thought about it, I realized that we are a vital tool in training and instructing our children in the ways of the Lord. So YES!! WE CAN ABSOLUTELY EXASPERATE THEM! As much as I want to deny it, my failures, shortcomings, expectations, nagging (and the list goes on) can actually irritate or intensely infuriate our kids, to the point of turning away from the Lord.

3. Matthew 5:13-16

"You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot. 
You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven."

Technically these verses have nothing to do with motherhood, but we definitely can apply it!! Matthew writes about the importance of living a life that is full of the Gospel and shines brightly for Christ in a world that loves darkness. What better place to bring the flavor and light then to our homes?

Salt has so many uses. We use it to bring flavor to food, disinfect, give traction on a snowy ground, and purify water. Salt can create thirst. When being the salt in our families we should be making our kids (and husbands) thirst for the Lord. Salt also disinfects!! It stings but brings healing. Our words and actions can bring healing to painful situations, both in the world and in our homes. So go ahead mamas, be salty.

We’re not just salty, but we should be radiating light! We should let our light shine for our families and it should radiate and shine out to the rest of the world. To be clear, this is not our own light we’re shining. We did just talk about how we can exasperate our kids and if you try to radiate your own light then you’ll be exasperating everyone. We’re to shine the light of Christ!! John 1:4-5 says “In Him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” We need to CHOOSE the light that cannot be overcome. We need to CHOOSE to act differently. We need to CHOOSE Jesus. Women who find their identity in Christ influence the world and our homes for Him. We need to actively listen to our kids and others, while upholding Truth. So shine brightly for Jesus, your kids depend on it!

Motherhood is so exhausting, we all know that, but when we parent the way God has called us to then we will see the fruits of the labor through the lives of our children. My prayer for each of you is that you will feel rejuvenated and empowered by the Holy Spirit to love your kids in a way that points them to our Savior.

-Beth