The closer you get to home, the less fascinating the work of missions feels. As someone once put it, “Everyone wants to save the world, but no one wants to help Mom with the dishes.” For mothers at home, the normal experience is not to have a bunch of people asking you to give a monthly ministry update. When mothers talk to other Christians, there is no real sense of admiration and appreciation for what is being sacrificed for the gospel. People don’t gather around moms and ask what their needs are, and how they can pray for them. After the sixth hiding in an hour, and the nappies appear to be made out of the same stuff as the widow of Zarephath’s cupboard I would imagine that motherhood doesn’t feel glamorous or exciting. It is just …show more content…
Motherhood can literally be seen as living the gospel. Jim Elliot famously said, “He is no fool who gives up that which he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.” Motherhood is an opportunity to lay down the things that you cannot keep on behalf of the eternal souls, that are your children- that is your mission field.
Faith Makes the Small Offering Great
Evelyn Salt, Sheera, Xena and Galadriel make you wonder whatyou have given up for your kids. Maybe your ambitions aren’t so high- working out, extra money, sleep, the hustle and bustle , the corporate ladde. These thing though don’t seem that great if we compare them with the labours of famous missionaries, people who lost their live for the sake of the gospel.
Rachel Jankovic put it like this, “Think about the feeding of the five thousand when the disciples went out and rounded up the food that was available. It wasn’t much. Some loaves. Some fish. Think of some woman pulling her fish out and handing it to one of the disciples. That had to have felt like a small offering. But the important thing about those loaves and those fishes was not how big they were when they were given, it was about whose hands they were given into. In the hands of the Lord, that offering was sufficient. It was more than
Jesus/ Loaves of fish: Jesus, Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve baskets full of broken pieces that were left over. The number of those who ate was about five thousand men, beside women and children.
In her article, “A Mother’s Day Kiss-Off”, Leslie Bennetts describes the problem of how our culture depicts the typical mother as a stay-at-home mom and how mothers respond to that problem. She begins her argument by commenting on how Mother’s Day will come but pass leaving mothers to go back to their excessive responsibilities. She critiques the weight our culture imposes on mothers because raising children is still viewed as the mother’s job. Bennetts draws attention to the flaws in our society that prevent women from following their dreams because of motherhood.
Mothers are a wonderful thing; they care for their children, take care of them, and raise them. At time it may be tough being a mother due to the disobedience of the children. Mary Thomas lost one of her children to a gang, but she managed to save the rest of her family because of the wonderful qualities she has.
One of the most traditional roles to be assumed as women, is to embrace the role of motherhood, but as of the 21st century, many women are deciding to do both, facing criticism for doing both or one of the either (The Glass Ceiling Effect*).
Womanhood as a mother is putting her kids before any person on this planet. Womanhood as a wife is loving and honoring her husband to the point of death just as Christ loved the church. Womanhood is doing anything and everything to glorify God with whatever He has given her. Womanhood as a single woman is knowing, even if He hasn’t given her a family, He is planning to use her in a different way to glorify His name. All woman will mess up sometimes, as will all men, she won’t always put her kids first, she will fight with her husband, and she won’t always glorify God. When this happens she should own up to her mistakes, right her wrongs, and turn to God for help when things get difficult and ask for forgiveness and guidance. I believe that is what makes a woman a
As English author Jill Cooper said, “There’s always been that idea of: 'Oh you’re just a mother, you’re just a housewife”.(?) However, these ideas about women are not just isolated to the western world. For example, when visiting the first child born in Istanbul in the year 2015, a prominent minister of health, Mehmet Müezzinoğlu said, “Mothers have a career in motherhood that no one else in the world can have. Mothers should not prioritize any career other than that of motherhood. They should focus on raising good generations.” These are common ideas that still often permeate society, that women should give up their careers to focus only on being a mother because that is their sole purpose. Similarly, Beyoncé is essentially showing that she refuses to make her role as a wife and a mother the sole part of her identity and is still able to maintain her own autonomy.
Every mother would like to see her child succeed in life. The following passage from the poem, "Mother to Son", by Langston Hughes demonstrates the love and concern a mother has for her son. She teaches him using her own life as an example; her life as a climb up a staircase. The imagery from the advice given in the stanza is explicit and poignant:
Women in contemporary American society see their role as provider as part of their obligation. Almost seventy-one percent of women with children are in the workforce (U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2010). Currently, there are more mothers who are working outside the home than there are who are
Motherhood is a very broad meaning. It doesn’t have just one definition. It differs from each and every generation, as well as each and every society. In the Introduction to The Reproduction of Mothering, the author states how hard mothers are judged on their ability to raise a child well enough, and seen as a bad parent if the child does not meet certain expectations for society. The mother is blamed rather than the child itself. The author states, “how our children turn out has become the final judgement on our lives”. This gives mothers a sense of self-doubt. They start to feel as if they are failures even when they tried their hardest at raising their child.
Relative to both novels, motherhood can be assigned an all-encompassing definition. Motherhood is the feeling of warmth, cultural memory, and freedom; it is willing to sacrifice anything for the betterment of the child. One does not have to physically bare an offspring to be considered a mother. To embrace the characteristics of motherhood means presenting ultimate love and affection and using complete agency when raising the child. Maternity
Motherhood has taught me many life lessons. Before becoming a mother, I was a self centered child. I had no motivation to succeed. All I was worried about was where the next party was. At that time I had no want to try because I was so scared to fail. I was slowly progressing to go nowhere and do nothing with my life.
I chose to interview my mother for this project for several reasons. She became a first time mother at the age of fifteen with me. As a teenager, she had to make the life-changing decision of keeping the baby and finish high school at the same time. However, as it one baby wasn’t enough, she face the surprise of getting pregnant again three months after giving birth to her first child. Since her second child was a premature baby, she became a mother twice the same year. This meant that not only she had to deal with two newborn babies at once, but she also had to deal with the complications and concerns of a premature baby. My mother’s story is truly inspirational as she was able to finish high school, get a bachelor degree, work a full-time
Women have been involved in Christian ministry since the very beginning of Christianity. It has declined and risen according to the acceptance of the environment. The two papers addressed in this essay document the rise of women ministers in the Holiness movement as well as the decline of women in the modern Pentecostal movement. In response to this decline in women in ministry, Courtney Stewart gave points which the UPCI should tackle to rectify the situation.
Of those 10.4 million, only 2% say they are “not happy at all” with their career choice. This makes being a stay-at-home mom more satisfying than any other profession. However, there is a somewhat unspoken stigma behind stay-at-home moms. The problem is in the name: “stay-at-home”. These moms do not simply stay at home. They are not “putting their careers on hold”. In reality, being a full-time mom is a full-time job. In fact, it is the hardest job. Women that choose to put their children before themselves are hard-working, strong, selfless people that need to be more appreciated. That classic 1950’s housewife image of the woman in the kitchen with a manicured dress and a white, frilly apron is behind
As the 1950s housewife began to fade a decade later in the 1960s, tension grew between the mothers in the home and the mothers in the workforce. Both saw their own way of life and parenting as superior, and a survey taken by forty-five thousand mothers across the United States proves that the flame is just as fervor as ever. A majority of mothers have been told at some point that they have made the wrong choice and feel unfairly judged by the other side. Working moms receive criticism for what stay-at-home moms (SAHM’s) may see as a lack of devotion to their families. Forty percent of working moms that took part in this study say that SAHM’s have made them feel guilty for having a job. However, mothers that stay home also feel judged by working moms. They are viewed as lazy women with no lives of their own who sit home and watch soap operas all day (Tusa 42). “‘The question I get most often is 'Are you happy?'" says Diana Gosnell, the mother of one in Chicago. "People seem to believe that you can't feel fulfilled or experience personal growth without a job or career’” (Tusa 42). Having a personal goal of staying home when my children are young, I wanted to find out for myself if one method is better than the other, and if this debate is warranted, so I set out to find more information.