Missionary Momma

One of the elders of our church gave a great and comprehensively inspiring sermon Sunday about missions.  The importance of missions and missionaries was communicated so well.  And the fact that people, lovingly sacrificial people, are out there translating The Scripture into languages never before done, allowing others to read the things of God for the first time in their lives, well that is very amazing!  There are people that have given up the comfort of our “normal” lives to go to “strange” places with very little modern conveniences (you know like toilets, running water, enough food).   These are remarkable people that have put others before themselves.  

This took me back many years ago when I was sharing with my husband that I had found myself wishing I could do something “special” for the LORD, something that would change the world, or at least make a difference in my small sphere of influence.  And I remember, not verbatim but the gist, of what this very wise and wonderful man said to me.  He told me that I was doing something very special for the LORD and that I was affecting society in a way no one else could.  He reminded me that being my daughter’s mother was the most important thing I could ever do or would ever do.

You see being a mom, having the remarkable blessing of being someone’s mother, is a momentous responsibility.  And yes, I will go so far as to say it is a mission.  You may very well be thinking, “She can’t be serious”, but I am.  Stay with me here and let me show you what I see, show you what I have come to know.

The world today is hostile to traditional families and especially to someone who chooses to make being a mom the foremost part of her life.  Okay, maybe there aren’t people shooting at us, or trying to blow us up, but metaphorically they are, and systematically they are.  Through the court system, with legislation, through the mainstream media, there is a constant onslaught of attacks that are becoming more difficult to overcome each day.  Many missionaries face hostile territory daily, moms do too.

Laboring (pun intended) with someone as they grow and learn is extremely important and takes great sacrifice.  Sacrifice of your time, resources, energy, comforts, and can even physically take a toll.  Being there for the hard times, the scary moments, the frustrating issues, the pain of trials, is a heavy burden, but one gladly made by missionaries.  No less so by moms as well. 

To take upon you the obligation of someone else’s life, to know that what you do before them can have an effect on their very soul is something more profound than most of us care to ponder very often.  Yet every mother I know gladly takes on that mission each and every day, with no vacation, and no furlough.

And lest some of you dear ladies who have not been blessed to have children or their children are grown, think I have left you out, oh by no means.  I have a wonderful friend who has never been able to have children, yet her influence and mission to her nieces (two in particular),nephew, and other children brought into her life, have had such a God honoring effect on their lives that is impossible to measure.  Another sweet friend has grown children and she and her husband have made it their mission to be there for their grandchildren.  They take the grandkids on an adventure each week, and nourish them every chance they get in the Word.

My intention is not to demean the wonderful and amazing work that missionaries do.  It is a calling and an effective way to be used by God.  But we don’t have to go to some faraway place to answer this call and to share in the work of God.  In fact the mission field that is our own families, our own community, is just as important, just as necessary, as any and all of those many places across the globe.

So the next time you are longing to do something special and weighty for God, something that will change lives and effect souls, be the mom, the aunt, the friend, the sister, the daughter, the teacher, the neighbor, God has called you to be.  And be content in that great and wonderful mission!