Lessons from "Motherhood" posts by Rachel Jankovic - Part 1

Posted by Traci at 9:48 PM

These three posts by Rachel Jankovic on the Desiring God blog killed me. And then they brought me back to life.  I posted all three in their entirety for my records, but here’s a summary of what God is teaching me through this.  My words in bold, except when using quotes.  Unbolded is all direct quotes.  Part 1:

From Motherhood as a Mission Field

Motherhood is where I live out the gospel.  Every single day I have this chance.  Motherhood is laying down what I cannot keep (my money, my career, my body, my rest, my reading time, my neatfreakness, my schedule) on behalf of what I cannot lose (my children’s souls).

“At the very heart of the gospel is sacrifice, and there is perhaps no occupation in the world so intrinsically sacrificial as motherhood. Motherhood is a wonderful opportunity to live the gospel. Jim Elliot famously said, “He is no fool who gives up that which he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.” Motherhood provides you with an opportunity to lay down the things that you cannot keep on behalf of the people that you cannot lose. They are eternal souls, they are your children, they are your mission field.”

Don’t make light of what I have to give.  I’m giving it to the one who can turn my offering into His glorious, transfigured work.

“Think of some woman pulling her fish out and handing it to one of the disciples. That had to have felt like a small offering. But the important thing about those loaves and those fishes was not how big they were when they were given, it was about whose hands they were given into.  In the hands of the Lord, that offering was sufficient. It was more than sufficient. There were leftovers. Given in faith, even a small offering becomes great.”

The reason I don’t think this way is because I am selfish.  That’s all.

“So, if mothers are strategically situated to impact missions so greatly, why do we see so little coming from it?  I think the answer to this is quite simple: sin. Discontent, pettiness, selfishness, resentment.”

God doesn’t want me to give up my house to move to Africa (but props to those who do).  He wants me to sacrifice my time and my energy and my schedule for my kids.  To cheerfully and graciously lay down my life for their needs.  And then get up and do it again.   Gain life by pouring it into them.

“But I’d like to challenge you to look at it differently. Giving up what you cannot keep does not mean giving up your home, or your job so you can go serve somewhere else. It is giving up yourself. Lay yourself down. Sacrifice yourself here, now. Cheerfully wipe the nose for the fiftieth time today. Make dinner again for the people who don’t like the green beans. Laugh when your plans are thwarted by a vomiting child. Lay yourself down for the people here with you, the people who annoy you, the people who get in your way, the people who take up so much of your time that you can’t read anymore. Rejoice in them. Sacrifice for them. Gain that which you cannot lose in them.”

If I spend my time with my kids resenting them, being aggravated and fussy with them, then I truly don’t have a heart for anyone.  True gospel love will spill out onto everyone around me, in everything I do.

“It is easy to think you have a heart for orphans on the other side of the world, but if you spend your time at home resenting the imposition your children are on you, you do not.

You cannot have a heart for the gospel and a fussiness about your life at the same time. You will never make any difference there if you cannot be at peace here. You cannot have a heart for missions, but not for the people around you. A true love of the gospel overflows and overpowers. It will be in everything you do, however drab, however simple, however repetitive.”

The laundry, the dishes, the cookies, they matter.  Given in faith, God will work wonders.

“God loves the little offerings. Given in faith, that plate of PB&J’s will feed thousands. Given in faith, those presents on Christmas morning will bring delight to more children than you can count. Offered with thankfulness, your work at home is only the beginning. Your laundry pile, selflessly tackled daily, will be used in the hands of God to clothe many. Do not think that your work does not matter. In God’s hands, it will be broken, and broken, and broken again, until all who have need of it have eaten and are satisfied. And even then, there will be leftovers.”