Previous Challenge Entry (Level 1 – Beginner)
Topic: Mothers (05/02/05)
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TITLE: Mentoring Mothers | Previous Challenge Entry
By Carol Adams
05/05/05 -
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Just the word, mother, engenders deep feelings within. A mother is one who gives her all for her children. I often think of the mother hen who puts out her wings to encase her young brood
when in danger. Or of the mother cow who will face man or beast down when danger approaches. Mothers protect us as much as they can. What a heritage we have in the lives of babes, children, young adults, and young mothers today.
Spiritual mothers are God’s gift to us. Titus 2:4-5 NIV tells us about our spiritual mothers. It says, “Then they can train the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no
one will malign the word of God.” Wow! We all need mothers, surrogate mothers, in the different seasons of our lives.
Life experiences and observations from an older mother are indeed rich reservoirs for a younger mother to use in family living. An older woman can come alongside and share of her
failures and her own life lessons of what she could have done differently and how she grew aides’ people in their lives.
All through my life, various Moms have come to lift me up in times when I did not know where to turn. My own Mom is God’s gift to me, but Moms can come in the form of grandmothers and mothers-in-law as well. I praise God for my mother-in-law and her sacrificial giving ways, and for the countless other Moms that God has so graciously placed in my life to help me in child rearing, loving my husband, and in spiritual mothering. It is through their love and care to me that I have the joy of coming alongside other young women who are struggling in some way now. The gift of their mentoring has provided me a beautiful prism in which to encourage others. It can simply be teaching one how to cook or clean a house, giving guidance on how to garden, or how to can those delicious vegetables and fruits. It is seen through the gentle hand of kindness and care. Moms are very important to us. As I see their pattern, I hope to pattern that as
well and see it reproduced in my own family for generations to come.
What a wonderful example we have of Ruth and Naomi in their relationship of love and care to each other. Both women were bonded to the other. They experienced deep pain together when their husbands died; and before Ruth married Boaz, Naomi is encouraging and equipping Ruth to go to the fields to work. Ruth was teachable, and she listens to the wise words of Naomi. Ruth encouraged Naomi in her faith as well. This is spiritual mentoring! We all need mothers in our lives to mentor us.
Titus reminds us that it is not an option whether we want to come alongside another or not. It is a command. We all are called to mentor whether we have had children or not. A mother is a mentor who comes alongside young women of all ages to teach from their lives on family and spiritual issues. Motherhood is wonderful, but it can be equally wonderful for a widow or a single woman to plant a seed, watch it grow and produce a beautiful flower who touches lives. A woman does not always have to give physical birth to be a mother; a mother is anyone who sacrificially gives of her time and instruction to help another. Every Christian woman can invest into a relationship with another to produce spiritual reproduction and spiritual mentoring. It is our calling as women and mothers!
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