"Your body is the first thing any child of man ever wanted. Therefore dispose yourself to be loved, to be wanted, to be available. Be there for them with a vengeance. Be a gracious, bending woman. Incline your ear, your heart, your hands to them.... To be a Mother is to be the sacrament - the effective symbol - of place. Mothers do not make homes, they are our home." from Bed and Board, Robert Farrar Capon

Monday, February 27, 2012

More on Marriage ~ Luther

One of my sisters forwarded this to me and it really encouraged me. It's nothing new (in fact Luther wrote it almost 450 years ago) but in the midst of the day to day tasks of motherhood it is so easy to forget...

" 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.
It 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."



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7 comments:

  1. jennyFebruary 27, 2012 at 6:29 PM

    I like the phrase "...they are all adorned with divine approval..." It's hard to imagine a dirty toilet being adorned with divine approval, but it is what it is in the sight of God! As are we...

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    1. Mary PFebruary 29, 2012 at 11:46 AM

      Jenny, I like how you equate us to a dirty toilet :-) God creates the "lovely" in us, it's nothing that comes from our own wicked and deceitful hearts.

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  2. Letha HicksFebruary 27, 2012 at 8:48 PM

    Ahh... This is a refreshing Word to hear after a normal motherly day. Thank you, Mary.

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    1. Mary PFebruary 29, 2012 at 11:48 AM

      Letha, I now what you mean. As I go through my "normal" motherly days I am thankful for a Word that can renew my mind. There is nothing I'd rather be doing then keeping home and taking care of my girls, but encouragement in this is always nice!

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  3. CathyFebruary 27, 2012 at 11:19 PM

    The baby you rock, feed, bathe, diaper, and clean up after today, will one day be a grown man or woman, your brother or sister in Christ, with whom you have communion and fellowship.

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  4. momto8February 28, 2012 at 2:12 PM

    sometimes I have to tell myself this over and over. just to encourage myself to keep going..but in the end this is what I believe. Thanks for this post!!

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    1. Mary PFebruary 29, 2012 at 11:52 AM

      I'm with you - except I only have two young children and a third on the way, so I guess you're really way ahead of me :-) For me the "Oh, How gladly will I do so part" is spoken in faith quite often!

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