My friend, Holly Elliff, is featured this week on Revive Our Hearts about intentional mothering and it's an amazing series! What I love about Holly is that her passion for mothering is tethered to a wry sense of humor about the challenges inherent in such a call. As the mother of eight, she has PLENTY of anecdotes! Every time we get together, I get to hear a new story that leaves me giggling. But I don't have to convince you; check out an excerpt from day one, "The Beauty of Motherhood:"
There was the moment when my middle children decided to put child number seven in the umbrella stroller, did strap him in, put on their roller blades and left him at the top of the hill thinking that they would zoom down to the bottom of the hill and get there before he did. They did not get there before he did, but he did survive.
There was the moment when we had this babysitter who, while were out one night, decided to teach our kids how to escape in case there was a fire by jumping off the balcony that was above our den onto the recliner that happened to be the only decent piece of furniture we had, and when we came home the recliner was listing to one side. True story.
My husband is a pastor, so maybe it was the moment when I cleaned my entire house for a staff dinner and that is—you know, you got kids—what that’s like, right? What I didn’t realize was that while I had been rushing around trying to finish up cleaning the house, several of my children had been decorating every window sill in the house with permanent magic marker. If you want to know, you can get it off. I will tell you how.
Maybe it was the moment when I was sitting peacefully in my den (doesn’t happen very often) and all of my children suddenly filed through the den with underwear on their heads. I don’t think I ever even asked why.
Or the moment that I pulled out a pitcher of Kool-Aid from the refrigerator and there was a Barney sock floating in it. The lid was still on the Kool-Aid. No one had ever seen the Kool-Aid or the Barney sock.
Or maybe the day that was my very first time to ever be on the radio with Nancy. I was doing something about the joys of motherhood. You know where this is headed. I got a call from one of my older children saying, “Mom, the younger kids (middle to younger kids) have taken their mattresses outside and they are sliding down the front yard.” I hung up the phone and Nancy said, “What was that about?” And I said, “You don’t want to know.”
But it's not just all grins and giggles with Holly. She is passionate that mothers be fully equipped in the Word for their role. This is what you hear in day two's show, called "Grace and Power for Moms:"
Years ago when I was going through something really tough as a mom, I had an older woman in my life who kept saying to me, “You know this is for you.” When I was dealing with kids being cranky or not sleeping or not eating or, you know, destroying my house or not being able to keep up with the laundry or feed them or just the myriad things that go along with mothering, she would always remind me, “You know this is not just about your children. This is for you.”
I did not appreciate that statement back then; I really didn’t. But you know what? I understand it now because motherhood is the greatest tool I know for God to shape me and mold me and chisel me for eternity.
As I view life from God’s perspective, from that threshold of heaven, I realize that His purposes are big picture. They are eternal. They are generational. In his book The Treasure Principle, Randy Alcorn challenges us to think about whether we live for the dot or the line. Is my life about this moment? Is it about me or is it about eternity?
Motherhood is about eternity. It is not just about this moment. God clearly defines this in Romans 8:28 and 29. That verse where it says God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God and are called according to His purpose.
What is His purpose? For us to be conformed to the image of Christ. Motherhood is one of God’s very best tools for that molding, that conforming in our life.
And then we must become women of the Word. Only the Word of God contains the instruction we need to see God’s perfect will accomplished here on earth in the lives of our children. We must settle the issue of the sovereignty of God, of the authority of His Word in our life. It will take a lifetime for us to learn all that is revealed about God in His Word. We will never run out of instruction if we are faithful students of this book.
Just as we feed our children physical food, so we must be spiritually nourished ourselves so we can impart truth to our kids. Proverbs says the Lord gives wisdom. From His mouth come knowledge and understanding. He stores up wisdom for the upright. He is a shield to those who walk in integrity.
This series has been great. I listen to "Revive Our Hearts" everyday and have benefited so much from the teaching. I really appreciated her years of experience and the call to have a balance of truth and grace. Such a good reminder to come back to again and again.
Posted by: Danielle | April 17, 2009 at 04:01 PM
Thank you for this post...
Posted by: Charity | April 19, 2009 at 10:36 PM