I was going through some family photos yesterday and it brought back a lot of memories. One thing in particular made me think. In my younger days there were lots more babies than now.
Over here, there aren't a lot of pregnant women or babies. In fact, a lot of people are fascinated and stare at someone carrying an infant in arms.
Bringing an infant anywhere creates a lot of attention. For the most part, people are fixated on the tiny fingers and rosebud mouths and eyes are on it most of the time.
For the other part, particularly if the infant is being fussy, people can get annoyed, as if its crying is just to annoy them. They are the ones through whom motherhood is under attack.
So rare is it to see a baby these days, older women are experiencing baby hunger. It is real and distressing.
As I looked at a photo my then husband had taken of me breast feeding my first child, I was sad to realise that most children don't know that a baby can be fed by its mother. They are quite surprised if they see a child being fed without using a bottle.
Such is the distaste for all things maternal in our society today, some nursing mothers have been asked to leave restaurants and so on for feeding them.
Like everything else God has said is good, motherhood has been denigrated to a low job that has to be fit into the work schedule and if possible avoided except for the one or two times strictly necessary to procreate and give a woman a sense of accomplishment. Something to be ticked off the To Do List before she finishes her maternity leave.
Having children is a life long commitment and in today's society thanks to feminism, most women either don't want to commit or hand over the reins to child care to bring up their child.
Without seeing the beauty of motherhood and biblical womanhood, we are doomed to resent pregnancy and training of our children. Feminism's lies have succeeded in blinding women to this and having them prefer to pursue career paths that are outside the home and nursery. Abortion has enabled this as well.
God is pleased when Christian women accept the arrival and nurturing of children and acknowledge that they are indeed a blessing from the LORD. He created womankind to be a part of His creation and has created us to go forth and multiply.
© Glenys Robyn Hicks
Even by the God of thy father, who shall help thee; and by the Almighty, who shall bless thee with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that lieth under, blessings of the breasts, and of the womb: Genesis 49 25
You hit the nail on the head, as usual, Glenys. When my son was two we were out shopping and he loved saying "Hello" to people and chatting. People were surprised at how well he talked and could hold a real conversation. He always had a huge grin on his face, and more than one person asked how I raised such a happy child. One woman said, "If I had known children could be this delightful, I would have had one." She looked so wistful and sad.
ReplyDeleteSadly, a lot of women who chose to be childless find that they would have loved a child after all. One who comes to mind is Germain Greer an Australian feminist who tried eventually to have a child but couldn't. If only women would accept their nurturing maternal side and not leave it to late! We were created to birth and nurture.
DeleteNew babies are so good for us all. We need the hopefulness they inspire AND we need to put up with the inconvenience they create.
ReplyDeleteThere's nothing as sweet as the smell of your own newborn's skin or the velvet of the little hands. Thankfully, most mothers love their infants and don't see them as an inconvenience. Sadly though there are far more women opting to forgo motherhood, only to want it after it's too late..
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