WHERE HAVE ALL THE MOTHERS GONE?
Well...some have gone into the workforce by the hundreds and are leaving their little ones in the care of others... craving something they think that being a mother and taking care of their own little ones will not give them.
Not until I grew up and had two little ones of my own, did I fully understand and appreciate my daddy and his striving to fulfill the need of a father/mother figure in the lives of three little ones…ages eight, five and three. Being the youngest (and the biggest responsibility) when our mother died, I wouldn’t have had much choice if my dad had decided to “dole” us out to relatives as they had tried to persuade him to do. He would not even consider the thought of it!
I am made even more aware of his struggle to provide a normal home for us, as I sadly observe the modern home where the father is much too busy and the mother leaves her children in the care of others, in order to provide things for her children and herself that will perish with time. They do not realize until it is too late, the importance of things that will prepare their children for eternity.
I feel most fortunate that my childhood memories do not consist of being left to the care of other people, but of being with my daddy. The lovely, nostalgic fragrance of burning leaves and wood brings back memories of late fall, the year that I was four. My Daddy cut wood to earn money to carry us through the winter and we walked to the woods together. Sometimes it was cold enough that he would build a fire and let me sit close by while he cut wood and kept a watchful eye on me. He always made sure that we left in plenty of time to be home when my brother and sister came in from school. I see few homes today where the children get as much attention from two parents as we did from only one. My Daddy has had a vast amount of influence in the career that I have chosen…Mother-hood.
I don’t remember having much in material things, but what we had, was far above and beyond anything that is of a material nature. In one hundred years, no one will even know or care that we didn’t have the best clothes, toys and houses; however, what my Daddy instilled in my heart and mind will go with me into eternity. He influenced my life so greatly that it saddens me very much to see our mothers of America neglect their children in order to have more of this world’s goods.
Although my Daddy was not a Christian back then, he taught us respect for the Father in Heaven, not even bring himself to call Him “God”, but calling Him, with a deeper reverence, “The Good Lord”. These are the memories I have of my Daddy during my childhood days.
My husband and I were taught the gospel and were baptized into Christ (1 Corinthians 12: 13) when our first child was two months old. Beginning then, I prayed that I could show my Daddy the way to Christ. So with what little time we had to spend with him through the years, we planted the seed of the gospel a little at a time, and strove to be good examples by putting God first in our lives. My heart would ache when our visit would end and we had to travel the one hundred and fifty miles back home. It seemed like so little seed was sown and I would pray that we would have other opportunities to win him to Christ.
Well, it was a very happy day in September of 1977, that my Daddy himself, called to let us know that he and my step-mother had both been baptized into Christ. It just happened to be the same day that our first-born (my Daddy’s first grandchild) turned twenty-one. Twenty one years it took...so don't ever give up on anyone.
My story would not have been complete without the preceding information, but the point I hope to have made is this: If a daddy can be so much of a “mother figure” that his influence is carried over into the lives of other generations, how much greater influences can we mothers be? We, who can stay in our God-given places, can so train and mold young lives in a way that, “…When they are old, they will not depart from it” (Proverbs 22:6).
Think about it! Time is running out for many of our children. The adult years are approaching. The moldable years will soon be gone….
©Edna L. Scott Ingram: Via Christian Woman Magazine, February 1978
