The Longsuffering Love of Motherhood

“Charity suffereth long, and is kind. . .
Beareth all things,
believeth all things,
hopeth all things,
endureth all things.”
1 Corinthians 13:4, 7

This scripture speaks to this wife of almost fifteen years and mother of four children. . .

Beareth all things.
I think of my fourth baby, who would not stop crying through the “witching hours”. She would finally fell asleep while nursing in my arms. My arms would fall asleep with her, but I bore it because I knew if I put her down she would wake up and start crying again. At times I was so tired that I felt all used up. Her daytime joyfulness was my reward for these nightly pains.

Believeth all things.
When my seven-year-old daughter started school, she had trouble reading, and was so quiet the teacher thought she had a speech disorder. I believed in her, worked with her, and within a few months both her reading and speaking had turned around so that she was above average for her grade level.

Hopeth all things.
When my six-year-old son was diagnosed with a visual disorder, we did vision therapy together every day after school for a year. I research and prayed and took him for a second opinion. The second doctor found his depth vision to be above normal! He continues his eye exercises nightly but is no longer under the threat of the need for surgery.

Endureth all things.
A recent episode comes to mind in which my almost-eleven-year daughter got angry with me, stomped up the stairs, and put a hole in her wall. She was so upset when she saw what she had done that she was not punished for it. The slightly discolored section of the now-repaired wall will serve as a constant reminder to not act rashly. This is what caused my heightened interest in the season of “Volcano Dwellers”, as described in “The Eight Seasons of Parenthood”.

As I go through the seasons that are ahead of me, I know I will be challenged to apply this scripture through many different situations. I pray for the grace to do so.

Painting by Pierre-Auguste Renoire, 1892, Mother and Child.