Andy Naselli

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Follow-up on That Encouraging Word for Mothers of Young Children

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Last week I posted “An Encouraging Word for Mothers of Young Children.”

It generated some friendly push-back in the comments as well as on some other blogs (e.g., Jim Hamilton’s wife, Jill, responds here).

I agree with Jill.

But I wonder if some who read those quotes by Martyn Lloyd-Jones and Don Carson may be missing the main (encouraging!) point: mothers with young children generally have less time for the type of Bible reading and study than they would have without young children. And that’s OK because God’s calling of wife and motherhood is high. That’s an encouraging thought, especially to mothers who are frustrated and/or bear a weight of unnecessary guilt. Those are the types of mothers of young children that this should encourage.

Perhaps the rub here is that the quotation I shared does not nuance the encouragement in a way that warns mothers of being lazy and giving themselves a complete pass from reading the Bible at all. But that’s a different (but not unimportant or unrelated) issue.

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  1. Andy, I understood perfectly well what Lloyd–Jones and Carson were getting at. As a Bible study teacher I see this in the young moms. There is no question that there are women (with young children or not) who are lazy and/or who do not have the desire to learn the Word of God. On the other hand, there are women who have the desire but the season of life takes its toll on them mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually. I have five children, two are still quite young (5 & 2). It is hard for me. There have been times where I’ve stayed up late or all night, times when I’ve woken up before dawn. But all this takes its toll on me. Thank God for his grace, his mercy, and his wisdom. He did not create a monolithic people. Let’s give each other the space to be where God has us.

    • Ditto, Luma. And the worst irony was when I did wake up early, my children had a sixth sense that I was up and came looking for early breakfast or morning cuddles.

  2. I think the part about the “emotional” resources is a point well taken. When our kids were all at home and we were homeschooling, I often felt so mentally tired at the end of the day that it was often difficult. I only see that now because our kids are all away at school now, and my concentration is much better. Even though they still have issues, and parenting young adults can be mentally exhausting, it is much easier for me now than it was when the kids were at home. Like Luma, when my kids were small, I got up early, but it was very tiring when I look back at it.

  3. Thanks for both posts. I have a 7 month old, my first, and also work full-time and serve as a Deacon in my small church (alongside my husband who is Chairman of the Deacons). In complete honesty, I think I’ve erred on the side of giving myself too much of a pass over the past 7 months. My time is certainly limited, my emotions drawn tight, and physical exhaustion a constant companion. But I do also have time for online reading, the occasional hot bath, and keeping up on Facebook and with my baby blog. All of these things demand less of me than true study in the Word and time spent with God, communing, listening, meditating, etc, so it has been easy to reduce the time spent on these more intense and difficult tasks and chalk it up to simply being “unable” in this season of life. I am quite convicted by (and thankful for) the comments on the previous post because I am reminded that in this high calling of motherhood, I am setting an example from day 1.

    I have two stepdaughters in their early twenties who are living the lives of young women who have NOT had a godly example of womanhood in the home. They do not prioritize God, His Word, or His people, because they never saw their mom displaying these things as a priority.

    All this to say I thank you for this opportunity to re-evaluate my own priorities in this regard — to allow for the possibility that at this point in life my devotional time and study time will be limited and precious, but also a reminder that such things are so very important both to me and as I set an example to my child.

    Thank you.

  4. Thank you for the follow-up post. It was very helpful. It appears that some of us viewed the quote from different angles. It’s been a good discussion on how Bible study/reading looks different at different seasons in life. Motherhood is beautiful and many young mom’s do need to be on guard against discouragement. I just came from reading Jill’s post and I’m very much in agreement with her. Maybe the next question should be what are some ways that young moms can grow spiritually when time and emotional exhaustion are present?

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