Motherly Greatness
I have been really enjoying reading Womanly Dominion [more than a gentle and quiet spirit] by Mark Chanski. I commented to my mom tonight that I think it would be so beneficial for me to read at least one book on biblical womanhood each year or so. If I go too long without a biblical reminder and encouragement for the role of women, the weeds of my heart and culture slowly and surely gain ground without me even knowing, and I start to not only believe lies but act on them. Chanski has been a breath of fresh air, reviving my desire to walk in the role of a godly woman. Practically, I have seen an increase in faith for tackling my everyday tasks at my job, allowed my desire to be a wife and mother be fed and grow in new ways, and increasingly grown much in appreciation for my own mom. I want to share an excerpt from chapter 7 that describes sooo well my mom, and what our family is like because of her. She really is the “soul of our home,” and the “hub” from where all the spokes come and go. Reading Chanski’s description of his wife helped me realize that the fruit that I see God bringing from my family is a direct result of my mom’s full-time commitment to us. It’s almost hysterical how closely he describes our family and mom! I am so grateful for how my mom stayed at home, not only while we were all little and homeschooled, but also throughout our teen years and mixed schooling experiences (home, private, public, cyber, college, you name it!)
During the summer of 2006, we had everybody home for the last time. Twenty-two-year-old Jared was home from architectural school and working for a design firm. Twenty-year-old Calvin was doing an internship with a local brokerage firm and working a second job in the evenings. Eighteen-year-old Austin was working almost full time delivering truck tires. Fourteen-year-old Abigail and twelve-year-old Nathan were busy with swarming summer activities. An ignorant onlooker might have suggested, “Surely there’s no need here for a stay-at-home mother.” Oh so wrong!
These were Dianne’s most demanding hours, as each child was passing through a crucial season of life involving a new girlfriend, or a complicated situation with and old girlfriend, or a vocational selection crisis, or an academic preparation issue, or a health problem like a broken leg and an emergency appendectomy with its related recovery time, or a peculiar spiritual/emotional trial. Dianne would make sure to rise early in the morning in order to be in the kitchen when each one ate breakfast and gathered their things to head out into the world. She’d ask them questions about where they were last night and with whom, and to whom they talked on their cell phones, and what their plans were during the day, all the while taking their spiritual pulses and administering words of wisdom in season.
She’d inform me of the development of each, seeking my counsel. Then, she’d often have follow-up contact with them during lunch, or later in the afternoon when they’d return from work and be off to some other social or work activity. She was a maternal air traffic controller, directing and nurturing the lives of her offspring who were now making crucial decisions that would determine the courses of the rest of their lives. Both the stakes and the stress levels were higher than they’d ever been.
She would talk to me in the evenings. I’d follow up sometimes with long late-night walks and talks with them about themes on which I’d been briefed by my helpmeet informant. Without her maternal perceptions and observations, I’d have been clueless. With them, our parenting labors were on the stretch as never before. We spent many nights crying out to God in prayer for their long-term prosperity. It was my wife’s finest hour as a mother. I shudder to think of the present condition of our children’s lives had their mother’s summer input been basically reduced to a dim sliver of light at the bottom of a door.
I definitely recommend this book to you, especially my young adult girl friends. :-) Let it combat the world's definition of womanhood in your heart and mind, and allow it to inspire you to lean on God's grace to wholeheartedly embrace His high calling on your life for the sake of proclaiming the gospel.
During the summer of 2006, we had everybody home for the last time. Twenty-two-year-old Jared was home from architectural school and working for a design firm. Twenty-year-old Calvin was doing an internship with a local brokerage firm and working a second job in the evenings. Eighteen-year-old Austin was working almost full time delivering truck tires. Fourteen-year-old Abigail and twelve-year-old Nathan were busy with swarming summer activities. An ignorant onlooker might have suggested, “Surely there’s no need here for a stay-at-home mother.” Oh so wrong!
These were Dianne’s most demanding hours, as each child was passing through a crucial season of life involving a new girlfriend, or a complicated situation with and old girlfriend, or a vocational selection crisis, or an academic preparation issue, or a health problem like a broken leg and an emergency appendectomy with its related recovery time, or a peculiar spiritual/emotional trial. Dianne would make sure to rise early in the morning in order to be in the kitchen when each one ate breakfast and gathered their things to head out into the world. She’d ask them questions about where they were last night and with whom, and to whom they talked on their cell phones, and what their plans were during the day, all the while taking their spiritual pulses and administering words of wisdom in season.
She’d inform me of the development of each, seeking my counsel. Then, she’d often have follow-up contact with them during lunch, or later in the afternoon when they’d return from work and be off to some other social or work activity. She was a maternal air traffic controller, directing and nurturing the lives of her offspring who were now making crucial decisions that would determine the courses of the rest of their lives. Both the stakes and the stress levels were higher than they’d ever been.
She would talk to me in the evenings. I’d follow up sometimes with long late-night walks and talks with them about themes on which I’d been briefed by my helpmeet informant. Without her maternal perceptions and observations, I’d have been clueless. With them, our parenting labors were on the stretch as never before. We spent many nights crying out to God in prayer for their long-term prosperity. It was my wife’s finest hour as a mother. I shudder to think of the present condition of our children’s lives had their mother’s summer input been basically reduced to a dim sliver of light at the bottom of a door.
I definitely recommend this book to you, especially my young adult girl friends. :-) Let it combat the world's definition of womanhood in your heart and mind, and allow it to inspire you to lean on God's grace to wholeheartedly embrace His high calling on your life for the sake of proclaiming the gospel.
Wow Sarah, you are right. This really does sound like our place! Mom is such a hub in our home. Without her ever-present finger on he pulse of your lives I would not have a clue. What a wonderful blessing she is to all of you kids and to me especially. Dad
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