Motherhood used to be one of those things that nobody questioned, but these days it is often undermined in the media.  One such report, dealing with the myth of the maternal instinct, noted that some animals, birds and insects are cruel to their young - ergo, there is no such thing as maternal instinct.  Even so, I still would not want to come between a mother bear and her cubs!

However, I agree that maternity has got very little to do with instinct.  Many women find raising children hard work.  It involves a profound element of self-service.  It can be deeply isolating, from the community and adult conversation.  And lets not forget the physical strain and consequences of child-bearing, or the significant number of women who suffer from post-natal depression.

Motherhood is also often emotionally hard.  Much heartache results from watching one's children cope with the world, facing school with all its challenges,  and bringing into the home a culture foreign to the family.  It's often hard to cope with the difficulties and struggles of a child's progress through puberty, as well as the delicate process of letting that child go on into independence from the totally incompetent and reliant bundle a mother brings home from the hospital, to the fully-fledged adult who enters the world to take his or her place in society, motherhood is a long and emotionally draining experience.  Her children's joys and successes are hers, but their sins and folly are visited upon her also.  With the exception of a child's serious illness, misadventure or death, few pains are more intense than a mother's grief when her foolish offspring turns from the ways of God to the evils of this world:  'A foolish son is a grief to his father and bitterness to her who bore him ' (Proverbs 17  verse 25)

The Bible never teaches that women should undertake motherhood simply by 'instinct'.  Younger women need to be taught how to be wives and mothers, so God directs older women to train them to 'love their husbands and children' (Titus 2 verse 4)  Motherhood is not just a matter of instinct, nor is it something that all mothers will do well.  God is favourably compared to mothers in Isaiah  49 verse 15 'Can a woman forget her missing child, that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb?  Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you'

Yet the Bible can still appeal to the common phenomenon of a mother's devotion to her children.  Maternal instinct may be a myth, but motherhood involves common experiences of sacrifice and pain,  as well as joys and pleasure.  The loving devotion of mothers to their children is even the model of the apostle's care for Christians: 'we  were gentle among you, like a nursing mother taking care of her own children' (1 Thessalonians 2 verse 7)

Mothering is such a self sacrificial activity, it is no longer desirable or commendable to our self centred, materialistic society.  Yet it brings inexpressible joy and pleasure - not only to the mother but also to the child.  The main security and love a child knows comes from his or her mother and this joy then spreads into society, as children raised with such love and care take their place among the rest of us, becoming in turn the parents of the next generation.

We take a day (22 March) each year to celebrate mothers because mothering is so important and so difficult.  It is only a small token of our appreciation of our mothers, but, all the same, let us take time to thank them and thank God for them.

Simon