no higher calling

i have had a lot of thoughts and ideas and scripture swirling around in my little head brain (my head is actually quite large) about being a woman and what the Lord has said my role is as a woman. i thought i could address it all in one post but realized it will be much more understandable if i break the topics up into several posts. this first post will discuss women and pregnancy.

i was asked just the other day why i am so passionate when it comes to the topic of birth control and pregnancy and women having babies in general. until i was asked that question i don't think i realized i was so passionate about it. but i am glad i was asked - it caused me to really think about why i feel the way i do about this great gift we have been given as women.

you will remember my little rant on contraception here. it seems with the announcement from a certain well known family about the expecting of their 19th child the birth control topic keeps peaking its head around the corner. what i have found coming from many, often the very women that fight for the right for women to have complete control over their own reproduction decisions, is that this family needs to throw in the towel. apparently a woman has a right to choose unless her choice is to have more children than you think she should.

this generation is all about Me and I - and a great deal of that focus on self is among young women. i will further my education, i will climb the corporate ladder, i will be just as good as any man at the job i choose to do and be paid accordingly. that is great! i encourage young women to set out with big goals and dreams. but there are some choices i do not agree with. i will date many men, i will give myself intimately to whomever i choose, i will not be inconvenienced by a child. i find it pretty naive to think that you can have a physical relationship with a man while not being ready to be a mom. God's Word tells us, first of all, to refrain from an intimate relationship outside of marriage.

Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. I Corinthians 6:18

i am of the opinion that any time you are intimate with a man you are saying loud and clear that you are fine with the possibility of becoming a parent. but young women today are bombarded with television commercials about every type of birth control there is and even a "morning after" pill. it is not necessary to interrupt your life with a baby. enjoy sex without the responsibility.

women now are often looked down upon if they choose to become mothers in their early twenties. my grandmother had 3 children by the time she was in her early twenties. true, it was a different time, but motherhood was looked upon as a goal - an ambition. it was something to be acquired, not put off. in today's world to choose contraception or even abortion is looked upon as having goals and ambitions.

young women today take motherhood for granted. it is something they will get to when they feel they have gotten all out of social and business life that they hope to attain. if a pregnancy happens before it was planned - no worries - they have the right to choose. and if they never get to have babies, oh well, it is not necessary to define who they are. i am not talking now about those women who the Lord has chosen to remain single or even those married women who have not been able to conceive. the Lord does choose different types of mothering roles for these women (being 'mothers' to children in their churches/neighborhoods, adopting, etc). but here is the key, there are mothering roles for all women!

God has created our bodies to do something truly amazing. we can, by God's hand, grow a life inside of us. we birth that life into the world. we then are charged with their care as they grow. how amazing! i think of the way our Savior chose to come into this world. BORN as a BABY to a human mother!!! wow. of all the ways the King of Kings could've come to this world and he chose BIRTH. now, i realize there are prophecies that were being fulfilled, but He knew what He was doing.

i don't know if it is because i am now a mother myself, but i have come to realize that being a mom is a calling! it is a gift! i believe it is why we as women were created. again, many women are not able to bare their own children or will remain single but the Lord has a role for them as well that is no less as important and will influence little lives just the same.

i just see many young women running from this amazing calling thinking it will get in the way of their ambitions. why is motherhood not just as noble an ambition? why do so many want only worldly selfish pleasures?

i believe God tells women exactly what our earthly role should look like in Proverbs 31. the proverbs 31 woman is industrious, business minded, and a MOTHER.

many women are so quick to proclaim their "rights." i came across this quote and really couldn't have said it better myself, "of all the rights of women, the greatest is to be a mother." what greater influence can we have than the influence we have on our children for Christ? let us embrace this amazing calling God has given us. let us not run from blessings in the form of children.