Mothering is an Act of Faith

Mothering is an act of faith.

This isn’t to say that mothering doesn’t take place in homes throughout the world where the name of God is unknown or unheeded.

Rather, what I mean to say is that mothering—the sacrificial giving of one’s own life for the creating, sustaining, and flourishing of other lives is inherently an act of faith.

It is the physical embodiment of a hope yet unseen.

It is the recognition that this life and what we can accomplish for ourselves within it is not ultimate.

Scientists say we as mothers are simply acting in accordance with our innate need to see the human race perpetuated. But this is becoming less and less of a legitimate explanation for a mother’s sacrifice. Today, women happily choose to forgo their part in the perpetuation of the species, choosing rather to pursue their own self-fulfillment, self-pleasure, and self-actualization.

And why shouldn’t they? If this life is all there is, if this world, filled with war, sickness, evil, and death is all there is, why would you actively choose to add a greater amount of responsibility to your life? Why would you actively choose a life of necessary sacrifice over one of self-indulgence?

Mothering is an act of faith.

It says this life and this world are not the end.

It says that every moment sacrificed for the good of another is worth it because there is something coming that is greater than all that could be acquired in the here and now.

A mother laying down her life day in and day out with joy and hope is a testimony to the reality of the world to come. She believes that the souls in her care are eternal. That they were created to glorify the God of the universe. She looks forward to a day when she will stand before her God and hear the words, “Well done my good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of your master.” She longs to stand before the throne of her Savior with her children and her grand children and her great grandchildren, together worshipping the Lamb who was slain to take away the sins of the world.

She has faith that when she stands in the assembly of her God on that day, surrounded by the fruit of her toil, she will not count the work as too hard. She will not regret the sacrifices she made. She will weep with joy as she remembers the strength God gave her in her times of greatest need. The middle of the night feedings, the pinching of pennies to feed her growing brood, the E.R. visits for each broken bone or high fever, the hours spent on her knees begging for the soul of her wayward child. No sacrifice will have been too much. No luxury or dream abandoned for her children will cause her grief.

On that day what once was only frail and shaky faith, will be turned to sight.

Until then she must hold tightly to the unseen reality.

Because mothering is an act of faith.