The Greatest Ambition a Young Women Can Ever Have by Amanda Davis If our Lord so wills, I want to be a mother some day. I want to raise a large family—for Christ!! People are always saying that teens should follow their dreams; that teens should be ambitious. Yet, when I tell someone that I would like to be a stay-at-home mother of about 12 children someday, they look at me as though I just said I want to raise 12,000 llamas!!! But tell me, what on this whole earth could possibly be a higher ambition than motherhood? A mother is so much. Her life is one of enormous self-sacrifice, which makes her so beautiful and useful for God’s work. She is so wise and so careful. How many things a mother must think about!!! These little lives are placed in her hands for a time, and she must see that they are cared for properly. I do not believe that it will be a “drudge and a bore” at all, to be a mother. I do realize that it will MOST certainly not be all sunshine and roses, but I have learned that the sweet, innocent smile of a child can brighten up so much!! Just that one little flash of light from them can make you almost forget that they have caused you extra work, pain, or trouble. And I have learned this lesson through only my own sweet brother and sister! How much more precious will that smile be when it is from the mouth of my own child? I have to wonder why everyone does not want to be a mother. Did you ever have a tiny, or even just a small sibling in the cart at the store? And each person that walks past smiles to see that baby! The baby brings a bit of joy to even the lives that it does not touch. Oh, how could anyone reject these sweet ones? And yet, they do every day! This brings me to one more reason to prize motherhood. A mother has the chance to reach out by her simple example and show the world that children are special!! A mother has the unique chance to do something grand in the world!! I have heard even Christians say that the world is overpopulated already. But what percent of the population is lost, doomed to eternal fire?? Mothers are helping the world when they raise God-fearing families! They are adding beauty to the wretchedness of this land. I hope with all of my heart that the Lord will help me if He chooses to bless me with children. I want my main priority to be to raise my children to love their God. I know that to do that, I will have to do so myself! But I often have to wonder if I have enough to be an example to my children? I have so much to learn before I can be a mother! And not at all in just the material areas of cooking and cleaning, though these have their place and I could use practice there. But I mean in loving. In loving enough to give all that a mother must. In self-sacrifice. In unselfishness. In so many things that I want to teach my children, but that are even yet not fully developed in my own life! I know that God has kept me at home because He knows that I need to learn these things, and that there is no better place to learn them than -where else?- my home, of course!! So many of the people I know lead such busy, outside the home lives. And this may be fine for their characters, but I think God knows that mine needs some pruning that would never get done if I was gone! So, though I may feel that my girlhood is being wasted at times, and feel that I should be out doing more, He is beginning a perfect work in me through keeping me home. I pray that God will bless each and every one of the future mothers of the world, and to those for which He has other plans, may He grant them contentment. As we journey through our young womanhood, let’s be working, picking up all we can that will prepare us for that most precious road—blessed motherhood!!! -Amanda Davis - Grand Prairie, TX Dedicated Christian mothers who hold up their children before God in prayer, who teach them the truths of God’s Word, and who seek throughout their formative years to be a positive support and influence, may expect to be remembered by their children as was the mother of James Taylor who wrote: Mother When sleep forsook my open eye, Who was it sang sweet lullaby, And rocked me that I should not cry? My Mother. Who ran to help me when I fell, And would some pretty story tell, Or kiss the place to make it well? My Mother. Who taught my little lips to pray, To love God’s Holy Word and Day, And walk in wisdom’s pleasant way? My Mother. And can I ever cease to be Affectionate and kind to thee Who wast so very kind to me- My Mother? YWSH Main Page