Winter To A Mother’s Soul

Winter to a Mother’s Soul

Your wife will be like a fruitful grapevine, flourishing within your home. Your children will be like vigorous young olive trees as they sit around your table.

Psalm 128:3

Scripture refers to mothers as fruitful vines and to children as olive trees. Most Amish homes are very good at producing “trees,” with six to seven children (and some have more)! Can you picture the smiling faces, from toddlers to teens, surrounding the table? Can you picture all the bare feet that need to be scrubbed at bedtime, and all the dirty laundry?

For an Amish mother, raising children is best compared to gardening. There are seasons of planting, sowing, work, dirt. Then, like the coming of winter, the harvest arrives, and the empty plot remains. Winter arrives in a mother’s soul when her children are sent out—to work in another area or into their own homes to “grow” their own families.

You’d think mothers of large families would get used to their children moving away as they venture into adulthood. For most Amish this means marriage, but it could also mean an older son leaving for work or an older daughter taking a job in another district as a maud (maid) or teacher.

Letting go of a child is never easy—not even for Amish mothers. Children are held close for many years and then are released with tears. Yet just as a garden nourishes a family, the time and attention a mother offers are not for her own enjoyment. Sometimes the work of mothers is most fruitful when it benefits others, as children have a positive impact on the community, begin new families, and send “shoots” of their own.

Consider the young people in your life. Offer prayers for them today. If you are rolling up your sleeves and doing laundry or dishes for little ones, use this time to lift up prayers for them. If the children in your family or extended family have already left home, consider spending a day helping and encouraging a young mom as she cares for her own family. In either act of service, God will be glorified.

Dear Lord, sadness comes when I see my children, nieces, and nephews growing older. Sometimes I want to freeze time and enjoy the young ones for just a moment longer. Instead, help me to do my part in sending out shoots that will benefit Your Kingdom. Amen.