Motherhood is a new beginning

There’s no doubt that motherhood is consuming. The demand begins with pregnancy and carries on through to postpartum, and those early years where your baby entirely depends on you. A season where your world narrows and your energy can feel limited.

Hindrance vs Highest Calling

There are different takes on what motherhood is. On one hand, culture frames motherhood as a trap or hindrance. You read about how some women’s careers stagnate after having a baby. You hear the loss that some women experience: loss of identity, ambition, passions, and friendships. Loss of freedom too, the longing for some aspects of the life they had before having a baby. On the other hand, some see motherhood as the highest calling, one that brings fulfilment, placing it on a pedestal and seeing it as a marker of social standing.

Motherhood is a new beginning

Whichever view resonates with you, you may see motherhood as an ending rather than a new beginning. It takes God renewing our minds to give us the right perspective on motherhood. His perspective doesn’t deny the feeling of loss and sacrifice, or dismiss the feeling of fulfilment. God encourages us that whilst motherhood is a significant chapter, it is not the entire book. You are a daughter of God with gifts, passions, and purpose. Finding the balance in this season looks like asking yourself what needs to be put to the side for now, and what you can grow and cultivate alongside motherhood.

For me, it starts with the perspective of believing that motherhood enriches my life.

"Children are a blessing and a gift from the Lord." — Psalm 127:3

"The blessing of the Lord makes one rich, And He adds no sorrow with it." — Proverbs 10:22

5 ways becoming a mother enriches you

God's word shows us that the blessing of a baby enriches us. Here are 5 ways I believe that it does:

1. In the different chapters of our season of motherhood, the Holy Spirit can produce and cultivate the fruit of love, faithfulness, patience, and self-control in us. God refines our character to make us more like Jesus.

   
   

2. Motherhood reorders your priorities and can make you reflect on your ambition, your interests, your goals, and your passions. Rather than losing an aspect of yourself, you redefine what is important to you and feel more comfortable letting go of things you feel aren't as important, or shedding things that no longer align.

   
   

3. Motherhood brings hope and vision for your future and your baby's future. You begin to imagine the possibilities, discover the plan that God has in store, and envision the life you want for yourself and your family.

   
   

4. Motherhood increases your confidence and resilience. Having miraculously gone through pregnancy, labour and birth, postpartum, and caring for your baby, there's a confidence that comes and a resilience that can spill into other areas of your life.

   
   

5. Motherhood helps you be firm with your boundaries. Having a child can make you more comfortable saying no to pressure, people's opinions, and expectations, as you now have your baby to consider in every decision you make.

Motherhood Redefined

Motherhood is one of the ways God shapes us, stretches us, and draws something out of us we may not have found any other way. It is not always an ending to who you were, and it is not a finish line to reach for fulfilment. It is a new beginning that enriches your life.

“For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it?…

‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭43‬:‭19‬