The Gift of Motherhood

God revealed something special about motherhood to me today while teaching the kids science that I’d like to share. I have a couple of disclaimers first. One, I definitely do not put myself in the same league with Stacy McDonald, Terri Maxwell, Sally Clarkson, or especially, Johnnie Seago, when it comes to sharing thoughts on motherhood, but as God taught me something today, I knew I wanted to share it as an exhortation to other mothers on just how important our calling is as a mother. I am well aware of the fact that what I am going to share is not new or profound and has certainly been said better. Second, I want to say that God used the adoption of Maria and Suzanna to reveal this to me, but it doesn’t just relate to adoption. He used this time and circumstance in my life just as He will use other experiences for different people. That being said, I will now try to put into words what God has been slowly teaching me the last several weeks and finally wrapped up into a beautiful present this afternoon.

We are currently using Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day for our science program, which by the way we absolutely love all the Exploring Creation science curriculum by Jeanne Fulbright. Today we were reading on bird migration. The following are different sections we covered that God used to speak to me today.

“The ability for a bird to reach its destination without getting lost is called a homing instinct. What is even more amazing is that birds flying high up in the sky are continually blown off course by the wind, but they always get right back on course. How do they do this? If they get off course even a tiny bit, and they continue in the same direction, they will end up at the wrong place. The wind is strong and can easily cause birds to shift directions. Amazingly, these birds are designed with the ability to always adjust their direction to go the correct way.”

“So how do birds know where to go? Well, once a bird has migrated, it can use landmarks to help guide it to where it needs to go. Landmarks are usually large structures that don’t move. They serve to help you know where you are.”

“Whether by landmarks, constellations, the sun, or magnetic fields, birds know when to go, where to go, and almost always make it to their destination on right on time. The birds know to do this because of the instinct it is given by God. Do you remember the Bible verse we looked at in the first lesson? God says to Job, “Is it by your understanding that the hawk soars, stretching his wings toward the south?” (Job 39:29). In this verse, God reveals to us that it is by His understanding that the hawk and all the other birds know where, when, and how to migrate.”

So what does all this bird stuff and adopting Maria and Suzanna have to do with each other and motherhood? Here is the answer God shared with me. God in His infinite wisdom and perfect creation made mothers for children instead of giving them instinct only. Without mothers providing landmarks, if you will, children are completely lost. They will not know when, where, or how to get to their destination. This applies to the practical and of course the spiritual. It is in the everyday practical things that God has shown me the last several weeks just how important the calling of motherhood really is.

One of the first things I noticed about Suzanna as we sat waiting for the many doctors’ appointments we had when the girls arrived home, was that when she picked up a book or magazine, she would pick it up backwards and upside down to look at it. She did the same thing with a book for school. I never sat down and taught Riley, Luke, or Aubrey how to go through a book from front to back. They simply learned by getting on the couch or bed with me each day while I read to them. Poor Suzanna did not have this. Both Maria and Suzanna are great at memorization, but that’s all it is, memory. They don’t understand what they have memorized or how to apply it. For example, both girls can go around and recite, “One plus one equals two, two plus two equals four, four plus four equals eight…” But, if you ask either one of them what one plus two is they are completely stumped! Suzanna can count to 100 but cannot write or identify most if any of the numbers that she has memorized in the correct order. It’s the same with scripture; it is just words to them.

Most children in Liberia, not just in the orphanages, are not taught how to think. They are left to themselves to do chores or play without any supervision or guidance. In school they are taught to memorize facts but not what they mean or how to use them in everyday life. David says this is how one can get an entire nation to behave in a mob mentality and brutally kill and maim each other, including children like Liberia has done for so many years.

In my last post I shared about the difficulties we have with trying to train the girls in character and how to be part of a family. The instinct we do have is to survive and that’s what they did, survive. Without a mother though, they did not learn how to be part of a family, how to put others first, how to chew food with their mouths closed, how to sit and act like a lady, how to tell someone what’s made them sad, mad, or glad, or how to know the front cover of a book from the back cover.

Oh, all you precious mommies out there, can you see how important your job is?!?! Motherhood is truly the highest calling a woman could ever have! Without mothers, not just care-takers, children are completely lost. I’ve always known that God never intended children to grow up in orphanages, or daycares for that matter, but I now have living proof in my own home and it breaks my heart daily!!! So for those of you who sometimes get discouraged about “just being a mom” while you are changing diapers, wiping noses, answering all those why questions, etc. please remember that you are teaching your children to know when to go, where to go, and to almost always make it to their destination on time! We are making sure that our children stay on course and getting them back on course if they begin to shift directions and get lost. We are teaching our children how to think, how to love others the way God loves us, how to live to please God, and to know the most important landmark of all, God’s Word.

I am eternally grateful to my Heavenly Father for calling me to be a mother. He has blessed my life with both heartaches and joys through infertility, two miscarriages, the birth of three beautiful babies, and now through the adoption of two precious little girls who wanted and needed a mommy. My prayer has not changed since God put the desire in my heart to be a mother so many years ago—“God, please make me the mother You want me to be!”