Mother’s Day

There was a prestigious girls’ school where the teacher asked the students what they wanted to be when they grow up. One of the students proudly declared that she wanted to be a doctor; another suggested she wanted to be a famous artist; a third revealed her ambition of being Prime Minister; finally, one of the girls rather coyly proffered her dream: “More than anything else I want to be a mother!” To which the teacher promptly replied, “That’s nice too, but what real job would you like to do?”

There is a bizarre paradox in our culture. The West claims to have empowered women by liberating them from the confines of the domestic realm. Women now have the freedom to be whoever they want to be. Yet, there is a shadow side to this ‘freedom’ that is rarely, if ever, spoken of. The pursuing of work or a professional career has come to be extolled as the foundation of one’s worth as a member of society and the expression of one’s core identity. From the point of view of Western secular culture, being married and having a family is treated as a side interest, a secondary facet of one’s identity. Within this scheme children are mere lifestyle accessories, like having a pet. Indeed, in popular culture pets are now jokingly referred to as “fur babies”! Behind the joke is a revealing and rather disturbing admission: that having for a pet is seen as a substitute for having children. If the aim of feminism was to better the lot of women, then it’s a sad fact that the dreams of many women to preside over a large, happy family home has been curtailed by a culture and an economy that demands the slavish subordination of one’s family to the primacy of the workplace. One is reminded of G.K. Chesterton’s quip about “the muddled idea that women are free when they serve their employers, but slaves when they help their husbands.” The messaging of our culture is reiterating the lie of the 20^th century that motherhood is a terrible burden and the enemy of personal fulfillment.

The inevitable effect of ‘emancipating’ women from the home is that the value of motherhood as a vocation has been denigrated. Women who choose not to enter the workforce and stay at home to care for children are increasingly viewed with a critical eye, as though they are ‘less productive’ members of society. At least, this is the cynical, utilitarian, Marxist outlook that seeks to reduce human beings to economic units. In fact, the problem is not limited to women: men face the same inversion of priorities. Work is presumed to be the be-all and end-all of life, when in reality work is largely a means to an end. The point is not to denigrate the paid work we do as insignificant, but more to note that the most important things we do in life are rarely paid for. There may be significant value in the employed work undertaken, but for the overwhelming majority of human history work is principally endured to provide income to facilitate the higher endeavours of supporting one’s immediate family, and thereafter, the wider ‘family’ of one’s church and society. It is a very sick society indeed, that sees motherhood as being a second-rate vocation.

Motherhood and Fatherhood (whether natural or spiritual) is among the highest expressions of our human dignity. Being a mother or a father is not simply what we ‘do’, it is who we ‘are’. The Church has always seen motherhood and fatherhood as a vocation – a heavenly calling. In Genesis God calls the human race to “be fruitful and multiply” (Gen 1:28). Throughout the Old Testament there is no greater sign of Divine Blessing than the abundance of offspring. So God declares to Abraham: “I will certainly bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars of heaven, or sand on the sea shore” (Gen 22:17). In Luke’s Gospel we see the Archangel Gabriel announcing to Mary her God-given calling to be the Mother of God. Indeed, it is worth pondering the fact that the greatest saint of all time, Mary, attained her exulted status by fulfilling her vocation as a mother – the mother of Jesus and our Mother (see John 19:26-27). Mary’s highest title is Theotokos: “Mother of God”. If there were a greater honour that God could have bestowed upon Mary, He would have.

There is something entirely miraculous about the manner in which a new human being, who is a completely original and unrepeatable masterpiece of creation, made in the image and likeness of God, is brought into the world through the loving cooperation of his mother. There is no human enterprise more lofty, or upon which society is more dependent, than the begetting and raising of offspring. This is not merely theoretical, it is borne out in practice. Once a couple start a family their priorities automatically change. Professional athletes who once considered winning a gold medal as their greatest life achievement will very quickly regain their sense of perspective once they hold their first child in their arms.

Every woman whom God has honoured with the dignity of motherhood should understand the profound glory of her vocation and how pleasing it is in the sight of God. Every one of us owes our earthly existence to that special woman we call ‘mum’! On this Mother’s Day we take the opportunity to give thanks to God for our mums and to pray for them (whether they are with us or departed). May God reward their goodness, their love and care, and may we never take them for granted.

And to my own mum, who is the most inspirational, selfless and exemplary witness to the vocation of motherhood that I have ever known: thank you!

Happy Mother’s Day!

 



Mother’s Day

There was a prestigious girls’ school where the teacher asked the students what they wanted to be when they grow up. One of the students proudly declared that she wanted to be a doctor; another suggested she wanted to be a famous artist; a third revealed her ambition of being Prime Minister; finally, one of the girls rather coyly proffered her dream: “More than anything else I want to be a mother!” To which the teacher promptly replied, “That’s nice too, but what real job would you like to do?”

There is a bizarre paradox in our culture. The West claims to have empowered women by liberating them from the confines of the domestic realm. Women now have the freedom to be whoever they want to be. Yet, there is a shadow side to this ‘freedom’ that is rarely, if ever, spoken of. The pursuing of work or a professional career has come to be extolled as the foundation of one’s worth as a member of society and the expression of one’s core identity. From the point of view of Western secular culture, being married and having a family is treated as a side interest, a secondary facet of one’s identity. Within this scheme children are mere lifestyle accessories, like having a pet. Indeed, in popular culture pets are now jokingly referred to as “fur babies”! Behind the joke is a revealing and rather disturbing admission: that having for a pet is seen as a substitute for having children. If the aim of feminism was to better the lot of women, then it’s a sad fact that the dreams of many women to preside over a large, happy family home has been curtailed by a culture and an economy that demands the slavish subordination of one’s family to the primacy of the workplace. One is reminded of G.K. Chesterton’s quip about “the muddled idea that women are free when they serve their employers, but slaves when they help their husbands.” The messaging of our culture is reiterating the lie of the 20^th century that motherhood is a terrible burden and the enemy of personal fulfillment.

The inevitable effect of ‘emancipating’ women from the home is that the value of motherhood as a vocation has been denigrated. Women who choose not to enter the workforce and stay at home to care for children are increasingly viewed with a critical eye, as though they are ‘less productive’ members of society. At least, this is the cynical, utilitarian, Marxist outlook that seeks to reduce human beings to economic units. In fact, the problem is not limited to women: men face the same inversion of priorities. Work is presumed to be the be-all and end-all of life, when in reality work is largely a means to an end. The point is not to denigrate the paid work we do as insignificant, but more to note that the most important things we do in life are rarely paid for. There may be significant value in the employed work undertaken, but for the overwhelming majority of human history work is principally endured to provide income to facilitate the higher endeavours of supporting one’s immediate family, and thereafter, the wider ‘family’ of one’s church and society. It is a very sick society indeed, that sees motherhood as being a second-rate vocation.

Motherhood and Fatherhood (whether natural or spiritual) is among the highest expressions of our human dignity. Being a mother or a father is not simply what we ‘do’, it is who we ‘are’. The Church has always seen motherhood and fatherhood as a vocation – a heavenly calling. In Genesis God calls the human race to “be fruitful and multiply” (Gen 1:28). Throughout the Old Testament there is no greater sign of Divine Blessing than the abundance of offspring. So God declares to Abraham: “I will certainly bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars of heaven, or sand on the sea shore” (Gen 22:17). In Luke’s Gospel we see the Archangel Gabriel announcing to Mary her God-given calling to be the Mother of God. Indeed, it is worth pondering the fact that the greatest saint of all time, Mary, attained her exulted status by fulfilling her vocation as a mother – the mother of Jesus and our Mother (see John 19:26-27). Mary’s highest title is Theotokos: “Mother of God”. If there were a greater honour that God could have bestowed upon Mary, He would have.

There is something entirely miraculous about the manner in which a new human being, who is a completely original and unrepeatable masterpiece of creation, made in the image and likeness of God, is brought into the world through the loving cooperation of his mother. There is no human enterprise more lofty, or upon which society is more dependent, than the begetting and raising of offspring. This is not merely theoretical, it is borne out in practice. Once a couple start a family their priorities automatically change. Professional athletes who once considered winning a gold medal as their greatest life achievement will very quickly regain their sense of perspective once they hold their first child in their arms.

Every woman whom God has honoured with the dignity of motherhood should understand the profound glory of her vocation and how pleasing it is in the sight of God. Every one of us owes our earthly existence to that special woman we call ‘mum’! On this Mother’s Day we take the opportunity to give thanks to God for our mums and to pray for them (whether they are with us or departed). May God reward their goodness, their love and care, and may we never take them for granted.

And to my own mum, who is the most inspirational, selfless and exemplary witness to the vocation of motherhood that I have ever known: thank you!

Happy Mother’s Day!