Some more thoughts on the Christian Mom Blogosphere

I’m not linking to the post that I am referring to, but the last few lines of it were:

Don’t look down on that mother of only one, or two. Likewise, don’t idolize the mother of ten. Keep your eyes focused on your family and let the Lord direct YOUR paths, not hers.

A couple of thoughts. The first sentence I can totally agree with. I’ve known several women who have longed for more children but because of circumstance were unable to have them. Several of them struggled with the rigors of adoption and met several disappointments in that area. It is not that these couples were selfish or not open to God’s will in their lives, but that perhaps God had different plans for them. Paraphrasing something St. Thomas Aquinas said, we have to think kindly and well of people and always give them a positive benefit of a doubt.

The second sentence I sort of agree with. There is one God. We do not worship or “idolize” anyone else. That said though, a mom of many who is clothing, feeding, educating, and managing that family has my sincere admiration and respect. My own great grandmother raised ten children. The first three she maintained for a while in upper Michigan living in a railroad box car while they were waiting for their house to be built! Later in their own home they raised crops, had cattle and basically led a very rigorous lifestyle with very little money. But all of her children grew up to be strong in their Christian faith and gave back to their churches and communities. I’m sorry but I have to greatly admire a mother who can pull that off! There is a difference in being the mother of many to being the mom of a few. Just logistically it’s different. It certainly is counter to the culture that we live in. In my opinion the moms that make that attempt deserve some props for having the courage even to try!

I’d like to see the verses to support the last sentence. My take of the Gospel message is that we are supposed to be helping each other along this journey of life with a destination to heaven. We are to do so by speaking the truth in love, but the first part of that is being aware of the needs around you. Of course we are all ultimately accountable for our own souls and how we lived our lives. Mothers will be accountable for how they raised their children and loved their husbands. But we’re not called to tunnel vision!! For Catholics that means following the corporal and spiritual works of mercy. For older women it means becoming a Titus 2 woman. To do that sometimes the Lord will painfully put you on someon else’s path. Many times that means you’ll get stepped on. Nonetheless I don’t think it supports the notion that you are supposed to stay behind your own lane line always.

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