Motherhood: A Call to Carry On
Carry on. When you’re drop dead tired and
there’re still several hours and as many chores
left to do at the end of the day: Carry on.
When you have so much to do you don’t know how
you’ll do it all: Carry on. When you have so
many needs to fill and seemingly not enough
resources to fill them all: Carry on. When
you’re weary and successes are few and failures
are many: Carry on. When you feel all alone and
as if no one cares for what you do: Carry on.
Carry on, Mother, carry on! Motherhood’s a call
to carry on. No matter what you think, how you
feel or how things seem to appear, as a mother,
you’re called to carry on.
I was mulling over this message, I got to
thinking about flying; the hustle and bustle of
the airport, the waiting in line, the scans and
the check-points. You board the plane and you
prepare for the flight ahead and you sit back
and either endure or enjoy the ride. You don’t
really worry about your baggage, for at that
point there’s really nothing you can do about it
anyway. But there’s still your “carry on”
stuff… the stuff you need to be responsible to
take care of. All the while, it’s up to you to
make the best of the flight or perhaps by
default, just choose to snooze or endure the
passage of miles and time.
Motherhood’s a lot like that… you may come into
it with lots of baggage, but there comes a point
that you need to put the baggage down and “check
it” as it were, and deal with your carry-on’s.
You know, it’s interesting how baggage goes…
it’s all the stuff we think we’ll need for the
trip; it’s all the stuff we thought we couldn’t
live without; it’s all the stuff that follows us
wherever we go and much of it doesn’t do us any
good or isn’t actually useful or necessary for
the trip –we usually find that out when we reach
the destination. Actually, for most all of us,
what’s really important is what’s in our carry-on’s.
We usually pack the most important things in our
carry-on’s – our valuables, our money, our
credit, our identification, our appearance
enhancing tools, and other necessities. Problem
is, many mothers get bogged down with their
heavy baggage and are consumed with looking at
it, thinking about it, rifling through it,
trying to carry it around –that they forget to
hang on tight to their precious carry-on’s.
Many mothers are more concerned with the
baggage… the things, the what if’s, the
furnishings, the styles, the weights of the
world, the what-will-other-people-think’s in
life.
It’s what’s in the carry-on that is most
important —You keep the carry-on stuff intact,
chances are good that no matter what happens to
the baggage, you’ll still make it though the
trip just fine. Your ‘carry-on’ is usually what
you need for the trip… the stuff in the carry-on
is your treasure. Well, this is sort of a
description of motherhood, but as analogies
usually do, this analogy breaks down at some
point.
Motherhood’s a call to carry on. But we don’t
carry on alone. O, the enemy may attempt to
persuade us that we’re alone, that no one else
is doing what we’re doing, that we have too much
to carry or not enough help with what we’ve got
to carry or that our load is heavier that other
mother’s loads or worse: that our load or the
work we carry is not all that important – that
anyone can do it. Truth is, whatever the LORD’s
given us to do is ours to do – not someone
else’s to carry and do. That’s why the LORD has
so faithfully preserved His Word, given us His
direction and defined our roles as mothers.
Many mothers attempt to carry baggage that’s not
even theirs to carry –as if what they’ve got
isn’t enough already. Many mothers think
they’ve got to do all the lifting and carrying
and, really, the LORD never intended mothers to
do all that some do. O, some things are noble,
even admirable, but they’re not necessarily what
the LORD designed and called them to do.
So, how do we carry on? Well, I’ve come to see
that carrying on is probably best defined as
obedience – obedience to the will and way of the
LORD and nothing else – for obedience sort of
sums up the whole of the Christian walk. It’s
hearing what you’re being told and doing it.
And for mothers, it’s what we do (or ought to
do) and what we teach (or ought to teach). As
we walk with the LORD and live in obedience to
Him, He enables us to hear Him and to obey Him
–that’s the precious work of the Holy Spirit.
As we live and walk in obedience to Him, we’re
carrying on the call of motherhood. For God
calls us to obey Him and He calls us teach our
children as we rise up, as we lie down and as
we walk along the way. A mother cannot lead
children where she herself is not going; a
mother cannot teach what she herself has not
learned or is not learning. A mother cannot
call her children to obedience if she’s not
seeking that in and for herself –it’s part of
that precious calling: the call to carry on.
So, precious mother, when the way is dark and
the future seems bleak: carry on. When the path
is rocky, windy and steep: carry on. When life
seems to be endless piles –piles of papers,
piles of dishes, piles of laundry, piles of toys
and books and crayons, piles of dirt and piles
of chores: carry on.
And when you feel you cannot go on, stop where
you are, fall to your knees and carry on. Carry
on to the LORD, He will be there, He will hear
and He will carry you. And you will see that
all the while you carry on, your cares are in
the hand of Jesus
and all your carrying on is in His strong hand.
You will never find a time when you open the
Word or fold your hands in prayer that He won’t
already be there. You’ll never find a time
where your prayers are not heard by the One who
loves you. There will never ever be a time
where you step out in faith or in obedience and
not fin Him already there.
If it’s been a while since you stepped aside to
pray or to read the Word or to write in your
journal, taste and see: the LORD is good. He
will already be there. He will welcome you with
open arms – He won’t be looking at where you
haven’t been, He will be looking at your “now.”
In the moment you call upon His name, He will
answer, He will be there. Taste and see.
Dear mother, faithful and wise, you’re called to
carry on – one day at a time in the hand of the
Saviour. He’s not looking at your yesterdays or
even your worries about tomorrow; He’s looking
at your “today” – at your “now.” All that stuff
that in the baggage? Be done with fretting
about it; be done with lesser things, be done
with vain glory and all the trappings of the
world. The enemy doesn’t want you to bask in
the blessing and direction of the LORD –that’s
why he seeks to distract you and weigh you down
–reminding you of your failures, what you don’t
have and what you haven’t done –or worse: that
none of it matters, that it doesn’t matter what
you do.
But today? O, today, dear mama, today’s your
new beginning. Now is the day, now is the time
to carry on in His name – His wonderfully strong
name. Your children will see Him in you and
they’ll see the Light on the path as you carry
on. You have a most honourable, most noble
calling: that of carrying on. Be faithful.
Finish well.
Carrying on with you: in love and blessings,
©A Christian Home ~
Letters To My Sisters ~ 2007 |