Introduction - The Ministry of Motherhood by Sally Clarkson
Sally wrote:
"I had spent the last ten years of my life in the ministry of making disciples from people I met in the world. Now Sarah and any future children would become the focus of my ministry. What an awesome realization it was that God had entrusted this precious little soul into my hands to seek to influence for His kingdom, so that she could become His disciple and continue passing the baton of righteousness to others who came into her life."
AND
"How amazed and thankful I am to see God producing in all my children's lives a love for Him and a maturity that could be cultivated only by the Holy Spirit. It all started naturally in our own home as we sought to follow God's pattern for discipleship shown through the life of Christ. I am convinced it was all a part of His plan to use my home as a place of ministry."
AND
"It all began when I was able to embrace with joy the ministry of motherhood."
I have gone through many stages during my 11 years of parenting. Starting with the pregnancy, when I just assumed I would go back to work when "the baby" was born. All that changed when Ben was born. I couldn't do it. I was changed by his presence, and my only desire was to be his mom. Work did not matter anymore. Then Darin and I learned about homeschooling. We began homeschooling for what I think are naive reasons. We wanted to have more control over Ben's schooling, we wanted his education to include God, we didn't want him to get shot by a mixed-up classmate while eating lunch.....;-)
As we got deeper into homeschooling, and as Ben got older, we realized that we couldn't parent the way we were parented. We both saw very little of our parents growing up, mostly because we were busy with school and friends all day. An hour or two in the evenings with the fam didn't give much time for deep relationships or much discipling. We realized that in order to TRULY teach Ben, we would need a different kind of relationship. It was at this point, we began to understand that parenting is a ministry - a calling.
This past March my parents were here for two weeks to help out during the birth of our 4th, Henry. My dad and I were running an errand, and he was questioning me about our thoughts behind having "so many" kids. Very funny, from a man who has six of his own! Of course that's a whole OTHER topic for discussion. ;-)
ANYWAY....
Some of the things he said seemed to imply that Darin and I didn't understand the committment involved in having children. I can't quite figure out where he got that idea. We already had three. Darin and I are very involved in their lives, so it's not as if we expect a nanny to come in and take care of everything for us. Anyway, I was telling him we fully understood the committment we were making when we decided to allow God to decide the size of our family. I shared with him how I, as a mother, understood all that would be required of my time, but that I felt as if it was (dare I SAY it) MY PLACE to be at home with the kids, teaching them, reaching out to them, caring for them. I told him that our family is a way of life for Darin and me. We don't have a "life" with kids on the side. We have each other, and our kids, which make our family, and that's what we're about. Family. Dad said, "You sound as if this is a calling." BINGO! It is.
God has given Darin and me such a passion to be parents to Ben, Lydia, Jack and Henry. It is our ministry. It's fun to think of the many people that we can reach for Christ through our children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren.... We didn't start off with a great vision that Sally Clarkson did. We were not exactly spiritually ready when we first had Ben, so we have had a long row to hoe over the years, but God has been faithful as we have prayed over and over for the vision He has for us as parents. I am really looking forward to getting into Sally's book. I don't feel as if I can get too much info on this thing called MOTHERHOOD.
