There is an attack on motherhood. However, May, the month of flowers, birds, and life, the month that reminds us of all that we are grateful for, brings our hearts back to the simple yet powerful lessons of our mothers. The simple lessons of gratitude, strength, work, and love that mothers teach need to be honored. May, the time of light after the spring storms, is the perfect time to remember the light that mothers bring to our lives and our societies. So, this year people all over the planet are using the hashtag #MayisforMothers as they post photos, videos, and notes of gratitude for the power of their mothers and being a mother.
Since the 1970s, the social messaging about motherhood is that it’s a drudgery, lesser than any other vocation that pays money, not desirable, or even a sign of oppression or a mental condition. Seriously, when I was pregnant with my fourth child, I heard some female college students talking about how “a person who chooses to become a mother must be mentally disturbed.” Yet, despite the negative branding attempts for motherhood as a chosen life path, people still choose it, love it, and are empowered by it.
The Power of Mothers
Why is motherhood so under attack? Because it’s the most powerful social, spiritual, physical, psychological, biological, and political position a person could ever hold. And, mothers who are “all in” know it. Mothers and grandmothers who don’t buy into the negative messaging about motherhood, but quietly go about their business of raising the next generation of people to be good, honest, brave, hardworking, kind, loving, and true are given overwhelming proof of the power in honoring motherhood as they see the people that they’ve molded go against the negative cultural trends of the day. I like to think I’m one of those people. Thanks Mom!!!
When motherhood came under attack by the feminist culture of the 1970s, suddenly women all over the plant felt that it was time to bring the power of motherhood to the discussion table again. Women flocked to the United Nations and social events to articulate the power motherhood just as other women tried to gain public platforms to tear down motherhood and dishonor the impact a good mother has on all of our lives. Even though mothers aren’t fighting back, because they truly don’t have the time or the stomach for battles, the battle against motherhood that has been waging for quite some time has now become more intense. Mothers are now even considered to be obstacles to get around for powers who hope to capture the hearts and minds of the children.
The Greatest Threat
Parents are presented in public forums as dangers to children in order to present the case that children must be rescued from their parents. Stealing children or sacrificing children has always been the way the forces of evil have attempted domination. Think Hitler and Mao and the child sacrifice rituals to evil gods in ancient times. Parents, mothers, were forced to give up their children for some perceived societal good or false god in order to gain greater control over the hearts and minds of the people. Children were considered materials, like money or animals, owned or transferred by adults for their purposes to control. If parents, mothers, are continually marginalized, then who will protect the children, preserve their identities as valuable individuals, and what will the future of society look like?
Mothers are the gate keepers for freedom, virtue and the hearts and minds of the children. If they stay close to their children, and raise them well, then both freedom and virtue can be maintained. A mother’s influence is too strong for a total societal takeover if she is allowed the power to maintain her place at the helm of society; raising her children. This is why motherhood, fertility, holy intimacy, family structure, identity, and the parent/child bonds are being attacked from every possible angle. All of the attacks are to steal the children from the mothers.
Mothers, are the greatest threat to those who design and scheme for ways to control or change society. Mothers, who hold the heart strings of all of the children and teach them who to trust and not trust, who to listen to or not, are the big stumbling block for the dark enemies of the family.
Love Over Money
The thing about motherhood is that it’s unpaid. That is precisely what gives it such power. A woman mothers her children because she wants to, not because she is getting something out of it; like money. Payment to mothers would cheapen the mothering. And, even though people have tried to pay mothers off for their children and “service”, most women will not sell the hearts and minds of their children for money. Motherhood isn’t about gain. She doesn’t mother for herself directly, even though there are obvious indirect benefits to motherhood. Mothers do what they do because of love. Money is never going to be more valuable than love. Love is too strong. It’s that strength that gives mother such great power; a power that threatens would-be power-seekers and can’t be taken or fabricated.
In a time when motherhood is more important and more attacked than ever, it’s time for a new motherhood movement. Women from around the world held a summit about the issue recently and determined that May is for mothers (#MayisforMothers.) No matter where we all are in the world, let’s post all the great things about mothers and grandmothers. Without mothers and grandmothers we wouldn’t be who we have become. Let’s share stories of power and purpose and the impact for good that mothers have. Motherhood is under attack because it’s powerful all by itself. Motherhood doesn’t have to fight back. A virtuous mother is moving the needle toward greater goodness just by doing what she does and as a nurturer and example of love to her children and grandchildren. There is nothing more powerful than a mother who knows how much power she has!
Spread the word that #MayisforMothers
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