A Mother’s Work

I heard Levi Lusko speak a few weeks ago. I don’t know if you’ve listened to him before, but he’s really great. Part of his message was about women who pray to God to just use them, they need a ministry. These woman pray to God asking him to use them, meanwhile their son Billy is yelling and pleading for his mom’s attention. In the middle of this prayer, the mom turns to her son and tells him to “shut up” she’s praying right now and to leave her alone. Levi said that Billy was her ministry and she was neglecting her ministry. I laughed. It was an exaggeration, but then there was a lot of truth mixed in with that.

A friend of mind from college told me a story about her life that has haunted me ever since. She was a missionary kid. I went to a Christian college, and we had a lot of missionary kids and pastors’ kids (mks and pks). Missionary kids and pastors’ kids had a horrible reputation at our school. If some kid went off the rails at school and got caught drinking, someone would say, “Oh, they’re a “pk,” and everyone would nod and say, “Oh, that makes sense.” Well my friend was a missionary kid. She was from a big family who served as missionaries somewhere in South America. My friend was the youngest and the most stable of her siblings. She told me about their Christmases while their parents served as missionaries. She said, her siblings would stay at home, by themselves, all day on Christmas day. There was no special food, no presents, no celebrations at all. Their parents thought it important to go out on Christmas day and celebrate with other families they were ministering to. They would bring presents, and special food to these families, but leave their children at home with no celebration what’s so ever. It’s no wonder, none of my friend’s siblings walked with the Lord or even claimed to be Christians. They were all grown and wanted nothing to do with God. God took their parents away on special days. Who would want that?

We as women have a tough job. Not that there is no joy in what we do as mothers. There definitely is. And not that we don’t find satisfaction in what we do. Certainly there is. However, the question is often asked,

“What are you doing for Jesus?”

We can answer, “Well…I’m a mother…”

“No, that’s a given, what are you doing for Jesus?”

“Well…I’m a wife…”

“No, that’s a given, what are you doing for Jesus?”

Well I am a wife and mother and I: wash clothes, pray, do dishes, read my Bible, sweep floors, read labels for gluten, grocery shop, chauffeur kids, clean toilets, fix meals, fold clothes, vacuum, organize, teach, read to my kids, coach my children, encourage my husband, pray for my husband, pray, pray, pray…

If we are mothers we HAVE a ministry. Our ministry is to raise our children. Somebody’s got to do it. Somebody has to raise the children. Or somebody has to do the bare minimum of feeding them and making sure they don’t smell bad. God gave us the children, take care of them! They are your ministry Mom!

In her book, “The Shaping of a Christian Family,” Elisabeth Elliot wrote:

“I am reminded of Amy Carmichael’s story of a donor to her work in Dohnavur, South India. He wrote that he wanted his money to go into “spiritual work.” In her experience in India, she said, she found that souls were “more or less firmly attached to bodies.” Bodies require houses and therefore house cleaning: food and therefore cooking; clothes and therefore washing. Amy, who had spent years in itinerant evangelism, was willing to relinquish that for motherwork, and became Amma (Tamil for “Mother”) to many hundreds of Indian children. “I wonder how many thousands of tiny fingernails and toenails I have cut!” she said. pp. 157.

Our souls are “more or less firmly attached to bodies.” The souls of our children ARE “more or less firmly attached to bodies.” And like Amy Carmichael said, those bodies need to be fed, washed, hugged, listened to, fed again, sheltered, clothed… as you know, the list never ends. It takes a lot of work to raise children. Taking care of their physical bodies is just the minimum. We need to care for them spiritually and bring them to the Living Water, as well.

That is what Levi Lusko was saying. We may have lofty ideas of heading to faraway places to minister to the poor, but as long as you have little people in your home, they are your ministry. And God is good with that, Levi Lusko’s good with that, and you should be good with that. So if you ever get discouraged or are challenged that you aren’t doing enough for Jesus, just remember Amy Carmichael’s quote, “Souls are more or less firmly attached to bodies.” And those bodies require much care. Especially if they are teenage boys. Teenage boys require the sleep and food of a bear. (But I digress). Be encouraged, sister, somebody has to take care of those soul attached bodies. AND that IS your ministry.