Celebrating Mothers

I know, I know, we did that yesterday, right? But let me beg your indulgence one more day, because there was a post last week we didn't want you to miss. Kevin DeYoung issued a humble challenge to Christian colleges and their alumni magazines:

"[R]oughly half of the graduates of Christian colleges are mothers. Close to 60% of the graduates are women and most them will get married and have children, many of them as their primary vocation for a long season of their lives....I’m wondering why the calling lived out by more graduates than any other calling is so infrequently celebrated?

So here’s my challenge: let me know if you’ve seen an alumni magazine from a Christian college that spotlights mothers, not mothers who also dance in the ballet and spin centrifuges, but mothers who are “just” mothers.

And a bonus challenge, this one for our fine Christian colleges: we’d love to see how proud you are of the half of your graduates putting their education to good use by helping their husbands, raising kids, serving in the church, and doing a hundred other amazing things that don’t look impressive to most people but should look impressive to us." (bold emphasis mine)

It's worth the ninety seconds it would take to forward Kevin’s post to your alma mater. But perhaps a more important response lies closer to home.

Let’s consider: what do we think about mothers who are “just” mothers? Are we proud of them? Do we spotlight and celebrate them? Do we want to be one?

If you are “just” a mother, what do you think about your calling? Do you think you are putting your education to good use wiping runny noses and dirty bottoms, combing tangles and climbing over toys, picking up after your husband and putting down your baby for a nap, creating crafts for your church’s children’s ministry and having new folks over for Sunday lunch?

To ask it another way: Who do we admire and applaud--the woman who is extraordinarily gifted or the woman who is extraordinarily faithful? As Christians, what doesn’t look impressive to most people should look very impressive to us.

Does it to you?