Timberdoodle and Motherhood

I get e-mails from timberdoodle from time to time. They always have something worth reading. Here is the text from one I got today.

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Dear Friends, (and moms in particular),

May is the month in which we celebrate the role of motherhood. While cards and TV ads are extolling the virtues of moms, and it is tempting to bask in this annual adulation, instead consider the question, "Why do you love your children?"

God's Love for the Jewish nation
Recently our family listened to a sermon by Tim Keller explaining Deuteronomy 7, wherein God declares His love for the Jewish nation. He does this not because of what they had done, but because of who He is, graciously keeping His promise to a thousand generations.

A Mom's Love for all her children
Do your children have that same assurance of your love? Would you dare to ask them to list the reasons that you love them? Trust me, you want to fail that test. The longer the list, the more you as a mom have to work on. You should shudder if they list anything to do with appearance, abilities, or even attitudes.

Why should we love our children, then? Because God has divinely created the parent-child relationship for our good and His glory. Our children need to know that nothing they do will make us love them more, and we, as moms, need to be sure that is true.

It may be easier to love the beautiful, talented, precocious child, but in many cases it is only because of the glory that child brings us. Harder to love are the misfits, the difficult, the flawed; but these are the very ones that God can use to sanctify us and make us more like Himself.

What if you find yourself struggling to love the unlovely? Ask God to give you His eyes, to see your child as His instrument, specifically and supernaturally created to make you more like Him.

A Child's assurance of love
Then, when your child asks you why you love him, free him from the burden of his looks, skills, accomplishments, or character; these are things that are subject to change. Instead give him the assurance that you love him simply because he is a gift from God; he is your child, and that is a relationship that will never be altered.

May you "know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge" so that you can reflect it in ever increasing purity to your children,

Timberdoodle co
www.timberdoodle.com
1510 E Spencer Lake Rd
Shelton, WA 98584
800-478-0672