Wednesday, February 11, 2009

The Purpose of Motherhood

This will be fast but I must vent this out. I received a fun message from a friend of mine today on Facebook. We were just exchanging fun tidbits about life when she mentioned some stuff she's dealing with personally. In part of this she lamented that when someone asked her what her childhood aspirations were, she realized that her answer was that she wanted to be a mom. What is the typical answer for that one? . ."you have to be something else."

What is wrong with being a mom? Please tell me. Feminist will tell you that it is boring mundane work. Women can do anything a man can do and more. Women can have it all. Women should make it to the top. Women should take over the world. Ok, so maybe that was a bit too far but you get the idea. All they can say is that motherhood is boring. They have never been able to offer substantial reasons why women should not be mothers and yet so many people have bought that lie. Some women have only half bought that lie. They did have children but you can tell by what they say about their children that they really don't like them or want to be around them. Woaw!! That last remark just turned a few people off. "I love my child!!" some might be saying. Well, think on this. There is nothing that breaks my heart more than to hear a mom say they can't wait until kindergarten so they can get on with their lives. Or they say they just can't be around their children all day. I bet that makes the kid feel great.

Motherhood is about sacrifice. This is something that feminist will never tell you that feminism is about. As Christians, the greatest example of sacrifice was Christ. He died on the cross for our sin. We are called to live this example in Philippians 2. Sadly, the church has forgotten the message. They have forgotten the real sacrifice that took place on the cross. In the process of forgetting they have sacrificed the children of God on the alter of feminism and self-fulfillment. And as Christians we were never promised anything would be easy. Parenting is one of the hardest. We want children to stay precious little babies that don't do anything wrong. We're surprised when they do come out with a will and then push them aside so we don't have to work at raising them. Ah, yet another message of the feminism. Children are hard work who get in the way of our (selfish?) desires. We shouldn't have them and when we do we should shuffle them off for someone else to raise. How does that come any where close to the sacrifice that Christ made on the cross of us?

That is falacy of feminism. They want it all and they want it come easily for them. You can't have it all and have a child hanging on your hip. So, they tell women that children are a burden to them. They get in the way of career and of their desires. Uh oh, before we lose some, we'll tell them it's OK to have children BUT you must still pursue YOUR desires. You are the most important person in the world. It's hard to leave your child in dayare, they say. Sure it is but you must push aside your true feeling because you're doing this for YOU. This is selfish, self-centered garbage and NO Christian should have ever bought into this lie. And yet, most churches that I have been a part of, books I have read, and other parachurch organizations I am familiar with RARELY if ever encourage women to give their all to raising their children and being at home. They don't call women out to defy the norms of society and give their lives as a sacrifice for the children. In fact, I have actually heard some strong Christian women leaders who have made the same exact remarks about wanting their children to be gone in school so they could do more important things in life. Now that makes me really angry because they are women all over the world that look up to them and now they think it's OK to hate being around their children. These Christian leaders have packaged the feminist message in a nice neat Christianese package and women world wide are buying it.

I hate feminism with such a passion. I hate that the bride of Christ has so fully endorsed any message they have and has made it their own. My blood boils even more when I hear or read that it's God's own church that encourage young ladies to deny the God given desire to have children and find there "place" in the world. There is no other place that God intended for women to be than home raising the next generation of children who will carry the gospel to the generations that follow. Paul was VERY clear on where women should put their service to the King. Based on the statistics, most of those arrows being shot out form our churches and homes today aren't reaching their destination when launched. Children are leaving the church. Where there is no vision the people parish. (Proverbs 29:18) Our arrows have no vision for their lives as followers of Jesus Christ and they are leaving in droves for something "bigger". Youth groups, in the process of trying to make church "fun", have dropped the true meaning of the gospel out of their message to teens. Most churches and parents expect teens to rebel. WHAT? Would God allow US to rebel? Why in the world would we want to encourage our children to rebel? Parents and youth groups do not call young people to be better than the average Joe let alone call them to be LIKE Jesus. They do not call young people to be radical in the way they live. The church is making it's children just like the world and then is surprised when they do become just like the world.

This is not for me. When I see my children I see them as warriors for Christ. All three of my sons have been given names from the Bible. And I pray very specifically that they will live up to those names. I pray that BroncoFan will be strong and courageous. I pray that the Scholar (formally Linebacker Starter Kit) will be a fisher of men. I pray that K-Head will be man that will tear down idols and restore worship to it's rightful place, at the foot of the cross. And to be honest, I pray for courage for these boys because I believe that it's very possible with the way our society is going, one of them very well may become a Stephen and be martyred. Do I want that? No but God has a plan and I must be open to God's will for their lives. And I must trust the Father in that.

For my girls, I pray that they would have the courage of Ruth. She was strong and stood by Naomi when she faltered. I pray they will have the stregth of Rahab to stand against those who intend evil and be strong in their stand for Christ. My vision for the three of them is radical womanhood. That they will be very strong women who will be helpers to their husbands. They will live in submission to their husbands. They already desire to have as many children as God will give them and I commend them for that. I pray they will be women that love their homes. Outside of having a strong marriage, it is my prayer that my daughters and daughters-in-law will be women that will see the vision of raising the next generation of arrows they will shoot off into the world to spread the gospel. That they will teach by example how to live out the gospel before a perverse generation. That is what we are to be doing with our children. Are we raising our children to be messengers of the same gospel that we hold so strongly to. Will they be able to weather the flaming darts of the devil who wants to tear them down? This is purpose of motherhood. It is the purpose of parenting.

For those who have ever been told that it's wrong to want to be a mom, the people who told you that were wrong. There is nothing more noble and more blessed than being a mom. We have the greatest opportunity in the world to raise a godly seed that will honor our Savior with their own lives. You can't do that with the children you might teach in a classroom. You can't do that with the business men you might be sitting with in a board room. You can only do that with the flesh and blood with whom God blessed (or will bless) your lives. You have been charged by God to skillfully change their diapers and teach them math. You are charged to wipe noses or kiss away tears. You are following this chrage when you spend 2 hours on your knees crying for the soul of your child in the middle of the night because they have choose a path you never led them to. You have been given a very high calling in this world. You are raising warrior for Christ who in turn will raise warriors for Christ. Is motherhood mundane? I should say not. Just because a bunch of disguntled women say your job is mundane and boring doesn't make it so. I am proud to be a mother. I am proud to go against everything that was taught me by feminist and those who follow and embrace their message. And I hope my girls will also be women who will stand against feminism's hurtful and deceitful message. I will be standing by their sides and holding them up in prayer along the way. We will battle these messages together and hopefully will start winning back more and more women who are finding that feminism message is as empty as the arms of the women who preach it.

2 comments:

  1. AAAMEN!! Hi Karen,
    I popped over here from the Homeschool Lounge to see how you were doing. (I haven't been on the Lounge in quite awhile, because we have a blog and Facebook also). I love reading your posts..they are such an inspiration, and most of it I could have written myself, except that I don't always have the right words like you do. :o) Hope to find you on Facebook! Stacy Schmiedeke

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  2. Do you still like blogging over here better?

    I was stopping by to ask you to pray for me tomorrow at 3:30. PLEASE! It will be Tuesday.

    www.homeschoolblogger.com/babymakers

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