The Bible is full of allegories and beautiful pictures of how he wants us to live. God paints one of these pictures in Psalm 128:3(CSB) describing a blessed family life: “Your wife will be a like a fruitful vine within your house, your children, like young olive trees around your table.”
Dear mother, you are not literally a vine, but the Bible says you are LIKE a vine. Your children are not literally olive plants, but they are LIKE olive plants And so God teaches us from the way He describes us.
God wants each one of us to be like a fruitful grapevine in the heart of our homes. Where does He want you to be fruitful? In the heart of your home.
But how does a vine become fruitful? It has to be pruned and watered. Sometimes we are not fruitful in our homes because we resist the pruning. And we don’t take time to be watered in His presence and in His Word.
Vinedressers who want a fruitful harvest are RUTHLESS when pruning their vines. They cut back the branches until they look as though there is nothing left on the vine. They look quite ugly. But from this cutting back comes a glorious harvest.
Vines that are left to grow without pruning may look fine but when you get close up you see very little fruit. I think of Hosea 10:1 where it says: “Israel is an empty vine; he bringeth forth fruit unto himself.” Israel looked luxuriant and lush but instead of bringing forth fruit for God, he brought forth fruit for himself!
Fruit for yourself but empty for God. That’s sad, isn’t it?
It’s like the picture above. My garden gave us a wonderful harvest this year, but has now finished producing except for my pepper plants, They are still growing. Don’t they look luxuriant and wonderful? But guess what? They have no fruit! I have never seen anything like it. I have these beautiful, big, healthy looking plants but they are bearing no fruit. I usually have a harvest of peppers, but none this year! There must have been something wrong with my soil! What a waste of garden space.
It shows that you can look good and still not be producing fruit. But it is the fruit that God wants. When talking about the Vinedresser and the vine in John 15 Jesus says that He wants more than fruit from us. He wants “MORE FRUIT” (John 15:2). But even that is not enough. Two times Jesus says that he wants “MUCH FRUIT” (John 15:5, 8).
Sometimes we have to take the “bull by the horns” and cut back branches ourselves. Stop running here, there, and everywhere. Stop getting involved in too many things outside the home. The Shulamite woman in Song of Songs 1:6 confesses: “They made me the keeper of the vineyards: but mine own vineyard have I not kept.”
“But how can I be fruitful stuck here in my home?” you cry out. Dear mother, to embrace the children God wants to give you is an eternal work. You are bringing into the world eternal souls who will live forever. You give to a child the privilege of enjoying the glory of eternity forever. How amazing.
As you pour your life into building your home, making it a holy home for God in this sinful and deceived world, you are a light shining on a hill for all to see. As you make your marriage and family life strong, you help to make this nation strong. As you take up your charge to get God’s Word richly into the hearts and mouths of your children to prepare them for life, you will not only be salt in this world, but you will be sending out powerful, salty, God-fearing, truth-speaking, devil-defeating young people into this world to take dominion for God. That’s incredible fruit for God’s kingdom.
Keep your life trimmed and pruned so you will bring forth fruit for eternal life.
Many blessings from Nancy Campbell
When I was a young child growing up, it was common for people to say, e.g. We’re planning a vacation this spring, DV.” What were they saying? DV is short for the Latin words, Deo Volente meaning GOD WILLING. I rarely here people say these words today.
The education of our children is a big part of our mothering. It is a responsibility that God has given to us as mothers. It’s not something we can hand over to someone else, unless we know that person is teaching our children a biblical worldview and the understanding of God’s ways for mankind from the Bible. We are responsible to oversee the education of our children from God’s point of view because we are nurturing and educating them on His behalf.
Dear mother, you are not mothering only for today.
Many people today belong to the “tolerant” church. They believe they must be tolerant of all things and never judge. This is ridiculous. We all judge every day. If we didn’t judge between right and wrong, we wouldn’t even know how to live properly—individually, in our families, or in this world.
Autumn Shenk writes:
We love to see our children growing, don’t we? Right from birth we are excited to see each new development. It is so rewarding to see our daughters grow up to be graceful women of God and our sons to be strong young men who really know how to be men! All my sons are over six feet, my oldest son is 6’ 8.”. And now we have a grandson who is also 6’ 8” and all the grown ones are over 6.”
To nurse a baby at the breast is instinctive. It’s natural. It’s normal. But did you know it is also glorious? Society disdains the beautiful role of mothers, but in the Bible, God the creator of mankind, reveals His ultimate plan.
Dear wives and mothers, this is not a political post. It is a family post. I write this with such a burden on my heart for the protection of our children, our grandchildren, and future generations.
Members of antifa “wholeheartedly support militant self-defense against the police and the targeted destruction of police and capitalist property.” They are Marxists, Leninists, anarchists, and social democrats.
Who wants to live “the good life”? I am sure we all do. God wants us to live “the good life” too. That’s why He shows us how to live it. Titus 2:3-5 is the passage where the older women are told what to teach the younger women. J. B. Phillips’ translation calls it “the good life” and then it goes on to say that when we do it God’s way that it is “a good advertisement for the Christian faith.”
Jennifer Corcoran writes: “As we sit down for dinner, we each close our eyes and pick a spoon from the jar. Each color represents something different, e.g.: “pick a stick,” get the first bite, blow out the candle, say the prayer, person on the right of you says why they love you, and the sought after one - do a funky dance (which has become quite amusing over the years!)
Do you want to be blessed? Of course you do. God tells us in Psalm 89:15 that those who walk in the light of His countenance will be blessed. The word countenance in the Hebrew is “paniym” which means face. God wants to have a face to face relationship with us. He loves us to look at His face and He loves to behold our faces. He wants nothing to come between us.
When Elizabeth gave birth to John the Baptist, what did her neighbors, cousins, and friends do? Luke 1:58 says they all “REJOICED WITH HER.” The word also means “to congratulate.” I am sure they must have held a party!
Did you know that the home is associated with healing? In Luke 12:42, 43 Jesus tells a parable of the master of the household who appoints a faithful and wise steward to be in charge of his home and to make sure his servants have food while he is away. The same parable is also told in Matthew 24:45-47. The word household is “therapeia” in the Greek and means “attendance to medical needs, domestic, healing.”
Do you love preparing meals for your family? Or do you find it a chore? Dearest wives and mothers, can I encourage you today that cooking and preparing meals for your family is not an insignificant task? It is a powerful part of your divine mothering career. It holds families together. It keeps generations alive.
Do you embrace your womb as a gift from God? Part of who you are as a woman? A sacred place? Or do you see it as something that does not fit in with your lifestyle? An organ that you don’t want to function.
Should women go to war? I don’t believe that mothers with children should leave their precious children and their homes to go to war. This is the opposite to God’s plan.
Dear mother, do not be lured away by the humanistic voices all around you, in the church and in the world. Listen to God's voice. Listen to your heart. You are needed for your children. No one else will ever love and care for your children like you do. No one else will ever be sensitive to their physical needs, and especially their innermost needs as you are. 
Are you ready to face the temptations of the devil? Are your children ready? A huge part of our mothering is preparing our children to face the onslaughts of the devil. For certainly the devil will come to tempt them. He wants their souls. Therefore, we must fortify them to withstand his fiery darts.