The Gift of Motherhood: Preschool Years
Psalm 127:3, "Children are a gift from the Lord, they are a reward from Him."
During a Nest event earlier this month, Holly Barnett reminded the moms of preschoolers of the gift of motherhood. Throughout scripture God makes it clear that children are valuable, and in Psalm 127:3, God evens calls them a “reward.” But, when in the throws of raising little bitty children, it’s easy to become consumed by all the needs and demands and forget the gift it is to be called, “Mom.”
Holly hammered home; motherhood matters, yet it refines; it requires our focus and our trust.
(1) Motherhood Matters
The endless hours that require us to comfort, teach, guide, care, provide, nurture, help, love, protect, discipline, coach, model and encourage is a job that often lacks verbal praise when they are young. It’s easy to feel overlooked and unappreciated in these younger years, but we can be encouraged by Paul in Galatians 6:9 to, “not grow weary in doing good, but in due time, you will reap a harvest if you do not give up.” We can rest in knowing that there will be a return for our labor in God’s proper timing.
(2) Motherhood Refines
It won’t take long for Motherhood to reveal areas in your life that will make you cringe, cry or crawl to the feet of Jesus. Jonathan Pokluda has said, “If dependence on Christ is the goal, then weakness is the advantage.” When our pride is provoked, our mind is given to worry and our eyes are stuck on comparing; may we let God take those not-so-pretty moments and conform us further into the image of Christ.
(3) Motherhood requires our focus.
It’s easy to get our eyes off the bull’s-eye. Our focus in parenting should be for the “well done” of our Father, not the “Best Mom Ever” of our kids. Our children are the next generation of leaders. In an age that’s drifting further away from trusting God’s way is best, it’s growing more imperative that we faithfully point our kids to love and follow Christ. We, as parents, need to realize it’s not the job of the church, our Christian private school or the youth leaders to take on this task. They certainly come alongside us in the process, but we have to own our role in the discipleship of our kids towards Christ.
(4) Motherhood requires our trust.
We can read and listen to all the parenting content produced, but we will never be fully equipped for all the curve balls parenting throws. Jeremiah 17:7-8 says, “Blessed be the man who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him. They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when the heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.” Doesn’t this make you sigh in relief? The pressure to be in front of all the dangers our kids will face is not sustainable. But trusting in Christ, placing our confidence in Him, provides us an anchor that will not fail.
To hear this message in its entirety, click HERE.
The Notes page for this talk is HERE.
If you'd like to hear a message on the same topic, Millye Hale spoke to the School Age moms on the Gift of Motherhood as well. You can find the blog HERE and the message HERE.