Mother’s Shape Lives

Every year Mother’s Day rolls around and I try to have something to say to encourage women.  It is hard to be a godly woman in today’s society but I am not sure it was ever easy to be godly in any society.  However, if you love your husband, sacrifice for the good of the family, and live modestly, you will probably be attacked.  People won’t understand your decisions.  Even some Christians have bought into the idea that the role of the woman has changed and “now it is different.”

But I submit to you that women, wives, mothers, and whatever role you play has always been one of influence.  In the very beginning God created woman to be a helpmeet or mate to man, Genesis 2.18.  God knew that man needed help and created woman for the purpose.  The writer of Proverbs 31 speaks of the role of the woman in the home as a wife and mother. She shall be praised by both her husband and children.  “Charm is deceitful and beauty is passing, but a woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised” (Proverbs 31.30).  She often is her husband’s advisor or counselor.  Her view of life is often different because she is a woman and can bring some things to light that he might not of consider.  She can be a comforter to him in times of trial.  She can aid him in teaching and preaching the Gospel, in being qualified to be a deacon or elder.  She may sacrifice so her husband can serve in the a fore mentioned roles.  In such cases, she is influencing the lives of many who will never know her.

Mothers shape the lives of their children.  We read of Hannah in 1 Samuel as she prayed to God for a child, 1 Samuel 1.11.  She vowed to God that her child would be dedicated to serving Him.  Did Samuel have a choice in this matter?  In one sense we can say yes.  He could have rebelled against his mother and God.  But in his training he learned to serve God.  His choice was made clear in his upbringing.  Serving God was his purpose in life as taught to him by his mother.  Mothers are caregivers and nurturers.  They form a bond with their children that is different from the father’s.  I can talk to our children about certain things but Regena can talk to them on a different level.  It was the training of Lois and Eunice that Paul credits with Timothy’s faith in 2 Timothy 1.5.  In speaking of the influence of his mother, Abraham Lincoln said, “I remember my mother’s prayers and they have always followed me. They have clung to me all my life.” He also said, “God bless my mother; all that I am or ever hope to be I owe to her.”  The attitude of the mother often becomes the attitude of the home.  A mother dedicated to the Lord and her family will teach her children the important of serving God and the home.

Mothers also shape the lives of the next generation of mothers.  They were instructed to teach the younger women “to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste, homemakers, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be blasphemed” (Titus 2.4-5.  Notice Paul did not tell Timothy to do this teaching but to instruct the older women to teach the younger women.)  There are many lessons about homemaking that cannot be written in a book but can only be learned by experience and then handed down to the younger generation.  Women who dedicate themselves to the Lord’s work will seek to pass on their knowledge.  Thus they shape the lives of younger Christians.  Dr. Dobson said that a tragedy in today’s society is the breakdown in older women teaching the younger women.  In earlier days, this was done as women worked together in canning, taking care of babies, and homemaking.  Today women are isolated from each other when it comes to the home.  They may work together but only at some office, or job, but not in the home.  There are still some older ladies passing on their knowledge.

To all those women who are shaping the lives of others we give you the praise of being godly and influencing the world around you.