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Luther on motherhood
Our natural reason looks at marriage and turns up its nose and says, "Alas! Must I rock the baby? wash its diapers? make its bed? smell its stench? stay at nights with it? take care of it when it cries? heal its rashes and sores? and on top of that care for my spouse, provide labor at my trade, take care of this and take care of that? do this and do that? and endure this and endure that? Why should I make such a prisoner of myself?"What then does Christian faith say to this? It opens its eyes, looks upon all these insignificant, distasteful and despised duties in the spirit, and is aware that they are all adorned with divine approval as with the costliest gold and jewels.
Its says, "O God, I confess I am not worthy to rock that little babe or wash its diapers, or to be entrusted with the care of a child and its mother. How is it that I without any merit have come to this distinction of being certain that I am serving thy creature and thy most precious will? Oh, how gladly will I do so. Though the duty should be even more insignificant and despised, neither frost nor heat, neither drudgery nor labor will distress me for I am certain that it is thus pleasing in thy sight."
3 Responses to “Luther on motherhood”
June 24th, 2008 at 8:05 AM
Thanks for sharing this. What a sweet reminder of God’s view of motherhood.
June 25th, 2008 at 11:28 PM
This was nice to read. It’s been one of those long, hard days with my infant.
June 26th, 2008 at 12:50 PM
…and somehow it’s comforting to know that the frustrations of motherhood are not a current condition. Even back in Luther’s day the struggles were no different. I think we like to idealize the past, giving people more depth of character than they really had, simply because they lived before we did.
This idea of being “forgotten” is common to most moms I think.