Privilege. Divine endowment. Doctrine.

Just a few of the words I’ve seen used to describe “motherhood” this week.

To start my day, before checking my phone or getting ready and hopefully before the kids start demanding breakfast (but you know how that goes), I try to read a spiritual message. It’s been a positive change I’ve made in the last four or five months and this past week, a lot of what I’ve been reading has been about the importance of being a righteous mother.

Not a perfect mother. Not a mother who cooks elaborate dinners or keeps a spotless house or limits screen time. But a righteous mother– “mothers who bless their children with a sense of safety, security, and confidence about the future, mothers who teach their children where to find peace and truth.”

The work of motherhood can be monotonous and thankless and difficult and infuriating and that’s all true. All painfully true. But those aren’t the truths that define this role. Mothers are the guardians of the defenseless, the discoverers of the future, the hands that rock the cradle. And when I remember that, the work of motherhood isn’t just work. It’s a privilege. A divine endowment. Doctrine.

My hope is that I can remember this, when the moments are difficult or when I’m insecure because I’m just a mother. It’s not a degree or an elite job; we don’t take a bow at the end to raucous applause. But because there is no such thing as “just a child,” there is no such thing as “just a mother.”

Happy Sunday, everybody.

xo

eb