Motherhood: Not The Greatest Good For The Christian Woman

It's Mother's Day. I've been able to celebrate this as a mother now for twenty years. It's typically a day of homemade cards, sloppy kisses and lots of hugs. I awakened this morning to find that the kitchen was clean (a rarity here, as my teens go to bed hours after I do, and they EAT... a lot...after I am snoozing). I popped open my laptop and my 17 year old daughter had taped a simple "I love you mommy!" note to the screen. It made me smile. It's the simple things in life that make it wonderful.

As I was digging around the interwebs today, I read Wendy Aslup's "Practical Theology For Women" blog. Today's entry was in honor of Mother's Day. It's not what I expected, but it is what I needed to read.

Motherhood is not the greatest good for the Christian woman. Whether you are a mom or not, don’t get caught up in sentimentalism that sets it up as some saintly role. The greatest good is being conformed to the image of Christ.

Now, motherhood is certainly one of God’s primary tools in His arsenal for this purpose for women. But it is not the end itself. Being a mom doesn’t make you saintly. Believe me. Being a mom exposes all the ways you are a sinner, not a saint. Not being a mom and wanting to be one does too. We may long to get pregnant, looking at motherhood from afar. God sanctifies us through that longing. We may lose a pregnancy or a child, and mourn the loss of our motherhood. God conforms us to Christ through that as well. We may have a brood of children of various ages, and heaven knows God roots sin out of our hearts that way.

It’s all about THE greatest good, being conformed to the image of Christ – reclaiming the image of God that He created us to bear through gospel grace. And God uses both the presence and the absence of children in the lives of His daughters as a primary tool of conforming us to Christ.

Well said!