Thoughts on Motherhood
Taking the position of a new mother is just that—new, something you haven’t done before. Some are blessed with moms and grandmothers, aunts or cousins who may try to prepare one for motherhood. But only until the responsibility is yours does the reality come home that all those instructions will not only be helpful but very needful.
The best way to be a new mom is to be a God-fearing married woman who has already established trust in the heart of her husband, and just as equally important, she—as an individual—has a degree of confidence along with the awareness that the position she “holds,” in turn, holds her responsible. God divinely designed the mother to bear and deliver the child, linking the child to its father. The mother is in the center of the family—she is the hub, yet portrays a servant-like being.
While the child develops during its first 36 week gestation period, the new mother must be as stress-free as possible. Allow your new joy and anticipation—strength and help from the Lord to be expressed. Dispel all doubt, fear, anxiety and negativity because what affects mama influences baby. It’s not just another baby child to feed and clothe—it’s an immortal soul.
Remember, being a mother is a huge responsibility.
A friend of God,
Regina Kinslow
The Bible is full of wisdom and instructions for parents. Like Hannah, we must make for our Samuel a little coat from year to year. We must provide for the growing, developing, changing body, mind, and soul, and develop with him.
It is the atmosphere we create in the home that makes the child; that indefinable something that is restful, loving, thoughtful, understanding, and kind; that cheers, ennobles, encourages, and inspires. Good taste, neatness and order, books, pictures and music all help. Riches are not a necessary requirement for these things. Two devoted parents, with a vision, will find a way—happy meal times, quiet fireside talks, and simple home celebrations of birthdays and holidays.
The delicate plants of childhood will not thrive and develop and blossom in an atmosphere of harsh blame or criticism. Some one has said, “Nagging and fault-finding in the home are twin brothers to the jail and penitentiary.” Home is a good place for the exercise of Christian dignity and refinement, to show forth all that is beautiful and glorious in Christian living.
—Quest and Conquests, by Evaline D. Green
The child’s first idea of prayer comes to him when an infant, by the mother’s kneeling beside the crib in prayer; her bowed head and kneeling body tell of submission to and reverence for a power greater than herself; her tone of voice when she speaks of sacred things is far more effectual with the little listener than the words she says.
—Froebel
There are four steps to disciplining a child:
- Make sure they understand the offence.
- Telling them the Bible requires you as a parent to administer the punishment.
- The punishment.
- Forgiving the child and letting them know you love them.
In prayer, one mother promises to study the child, and seek to find what gifts and graces God had implanted, and to nourish them.
“Then Manoah intreated the LORD, and said, O my Lord, let the man of God which thou didst send come again unto us, and teach us what we shall do unto the child that shall be born.” (Judges 13:8)
A grandmother said, “Each child comes with their own key.” It’s the parents’ responsibility to pray for guidance in dealing and finding the key to each child.