The Life & Death of Motherhood

Motherhood is both life and death.

Carrying, birthing, and raising a child is life-giving. We literally help grow new life. And then, at their arrival, we fall in love all over again with someone we just met. We nourish them, teach them, and marvel as we watch them continue to grow. We revel in their successes and, as they mature, reap the rewards of our hard work. We gave them life & they continue to give us life.

Being a mom often feels like dying. We loose our bodies and our sense of self every time we gain a new child. We come face to face with our own short comings and sinful natures far more often than we expected. Our children, and their needs, bring us to the end of ourselves in the most exhausting way. And thus, we learn the art of dying to ourselves, one painful sacrifice at a time.

As mothers we are novice tight rope walkers balancing our families between the joy of life and the death-to-self nature of parenting. And yet, as we seemingly hold our children's worlds together, may we never forget who, ultimately, holds on to us.

Jesus, in all His humanity and Godliness, has paved the way and carries us now. We need not wonder what it looks like to balance between life & death when scripture display this juxtaposition so clearly. Jesus has had a role in creating life since day one. He knows how life-giving relational depth can be and He lived on earth with the joy of the Father realized. And yet, He also washed the street-worn feet of his disciples, endured unjust physical torture, and sacrificed His life to secure eternal life for others.

No, balancing the joy of life while dying to self is not a calling reserved exclusively for mothers. It is, and has always been, the way of Jesus. And it is that same God-man who carries us now.

He will tend his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms; he will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young. Isaiah 40:11