The grace to mother is central to any community. Communities need mothers, but what do mothers do differently? The enemy wants to hinder effective mothering through dishonouring the function and role that mothers play. It is primarily a function and role that many women play but I believe that it is important to understand the spiritual dimension of mothering as a capability beyond its gender expression. Therefore, in this message I will outline five major aspects of mothering. If you are a biological mother to someone or care for children in any way then this applies to you. In addition to this, there are mothering principles that can be extrapolated to all of us spiritually if we are going to be effective in our Christian walk. After this, I will outline what our response to mothers and motherhood should be. How we respond to mothering enables mothers to be the best version of themselves. This is crucial as the Bible has a number of guidelines for how we should relate to mothers and mothering. 1 Tim 5:1-2 Do not sharply rebuke an older man, but rather appeal to him as a father, to the younger men as brothers, 2the older women as mothers, and the younger women as sisters, in all purity. This is a powerful scripture because it shows me that there must be a way to relate to mothers. Paul assumed that Timothy knew what this was. It also shows me that if you are an older woman then you must be ready to be treated as a mother.
