MOTHERHOOD IS SYNONYMOUS WITH . . ., No. 635
MOTHERHOOD IS SYNONYMOUS WITH . . .
“Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine in the very heart of your house, your children like olive plants all around your able”
(Psalm 128:3 NKJV).
A mother’s job description is enormous. I don’t think there is another career in the nation that imbibes so many profiles. In Chapter 15 in my book, “The Power of Motherhood,” I list just on 100 different profiles of motherhood, and I know I haven’t exhausted the list.
However, there are a few basic things with which we equate motherhood.
* MOTHERHOOD IS SYNONYMOUS WITH HOME. Mother is the heart of the home. God created her for the home. A home is not a home without a mother.
* MOTHERHOOD IS SYNONYMOUS WITH PREGNANCY. I know there are some mothers who don’t like to hear this. They don’t want to be relegated to childbearing. They believe they were ordained for much more than this. It is true, we will do a lot more than childbearing in our lives. Childbearing is only for a certain season—until we reach menopause. However, it is very much part of being a mother. True motherhood embraces childbearing (1 Timothy 2:15 and 5:14).
* MOTHERHOOD IS SYNONYMOUS WITH BREASTFEEDING. We were physically created for this beautiful role. Did you know that one of the words for “female” in the Greek is a word that means a suckling mother? In fact, it’s the word that Jesus used when talking to the Pharisees and said: “Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female (suckling mother)” (Matthew 19:4).
* MOTHERHOOD IS SYNONYMOUS WITH THE KITCHEN AND COOKING. This is another area that many women would rather reject. They feel it is too insignificant. But we’ve got the wrong mindset. Nurturing, feeding, and pampering with food is very much of mothering. 1 Timothy 5:10 gives a description of a mother. The first description is that she has “brought up” children. It means “to fatten, feed, and nourish children.” It’s all about feeding. And feeding means cooking! And cooking means being in the kitchen!
Dear precious mothers, can I encourage you to stop complaining about cooking and preparing meals? It’s part of your mothering role. A true mother loves to feed her husband, her family, and everyone who comes to her home. Nourishing food. Served with love. Served with joy. Bringing healing to body, soul, and spirit.
There are two main words used for food in the New Testament:
- trophe (16 x) which means “nourishment, both literally and figuratively. “
If the food we prepare doesn’t nourish the body, it’s not real food.
- Trepho (8 x) meaning “to fatten, to cherish with food, pamper, bring up, feed, nourish.”
That means to nourish our children body, soul, and spirit. We nourish them with healthy food for their bodies. We also encourage them with healthy food for their souls, and especially their spirits. That’s why I like to think of the table as a place where we feed the whole man. It’s not just the food, but fellowship and dialogue, and then the precious Word of God. We will never let our children leave the table until we have read God’s living Word to them to feed their inner man.
Embrace who you are as a mother. Embrace your nurturing anointing. Be a mother, not just in name only.
I know there are some mothers who have not been able to have children of their own. They are still mothers. God not only created us physically for the great task of mothering, but innately. When women embrace the beautiful instinct that God has divinely put within them and reach out to others with their compassionate hearts, they fulfil their great role of mothering.
We are the pourers forth of God’s maternal heart to our families and to the world. Let’s be who God created us to be.
Blessings to you, Nancy Campbell
PRAYER:
“Dear Father God, I thank You with all my heart for Your wonderous pan for me as a woman. Your plans are the best and all Your ways are perfect. Thank you that You have chosen me to be in the home and to make my home a place of nurturing and nourishing to all those who live within. Please anoint me in this great task of nourishing them body, soul, and spirit. I long to fill my home with Your joy and Your presence. Amen.”
AFFIRMATION:
I delight in God’s plan for me as a wife, a mother, and a homemaker. I am embracing it with all my heart.