By Michelle Welch
“Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. Then they can urge the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God.”
Titus 2:3-5
These days many young mothers live far from family and friends. Some are even a country away from home. With the never-ending tasks of raising children and taking care of their home, finding time to make friends can often be a luxury. Too many of them are on a seemingly endless treadmill of diapers and dinners, just waiting for a light at the end of the tunnel.
On the other end of the spectrum are women like me. Our kids are grown and gone. Our houses are empty of the endless chatter and mountains of laundry. Our walls are clean of sticky hand prints. The swings sit empty in the backyard while grass grows under the bottom of the slide. Recipes are halved, then halved again as we struggle to cook less after a lifetime of cooking more.
I think back to what a blessing it would have been if some older women in my life had reached out to me. What if they had brought a casserole over? What if they had ignored my statements that “all is well” and focused on the plea in my eyes for love and guidance? What if they had taken my place in the nursery once a month so I could sit in the chapel and soak in the Spirit? Would it have made a difference? I can’t say for sure that it would have changed my poor choices, but it might have.
What I can say is that sometimes the impact of what I don’t do is farther reaching than what I do.
What I can say is that if I do not become involved in the lives of the younger women around me, then I am not walking in His Word.
What I can say is that if I expect God to answer my prayers of “please send Godly women into my daughters’ lives,” then I have to be the answer to that same prayer by another concerned mother somewhere else.
The Apostle Paul considered the importance of older women teaching younger women of such great worth that he included it in his letter to Titus, a young pastor who had been called to lead the churches of Crete. If it was that important at a time when women rarely moved more than a few miles from home, how much more important is it in this day and age?
Think back to your younger days. Did you ask for help? I’m guessing the answer is, “No.” I sure didn’t! There was no way I was going anywhere near those super moms who had it all together or to those older women who glared at me when one of my children threw a cheerio at the back of their perfectly done hair. Nope. I would just go home and add “failure at church” to my long list of shortcomings.
Armed with the knowledge that they will not seek us out, then we must go to them. We must heed the words in Hebrews 10:24-25: “And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”
Dearest Father God, it is hard to step out of our comfort zone. It is so much easier to sit at home watching Jeopardy on the television and skipping over that message from the Pastor about volunteering in the children’s ministry. Show us Father. Show us what we can do to be You in the lives of these precious young women. Let us be Godly women who seek out every opportunity to teach and share. In the Name of Christ we pray, Amen.
©Michelle Welch 2013, Breath Of Life Women’s Ministries, All rights reserved. Pictures courtesy of Breath of Life Women’s Ministries and Pinterest. THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
