“I have proved to be the man who watched silently as they loaded my neighbor on the cargo train of death. They claimed he was less a man than me. I knew better.” I have wrestled with what it looks like to no longer be silent since I wrote these words.
So once again, Rachel Jankovic (author of Loving the Little Years
Right now, in our culture, in our time, there is something uniquely potent about mothers sacrificing for their children. As we lay down our lives for them, presenting ourselves to God as a living sacrifice, that sacrifice makes an aroma. That sacrifice directly contradicts and blasphemes everything the world is fighting for. As you care for your children, on the long days and tired moments, disciplining yourself, sacrificing yourself for them, you are reaching out to the world. When you present yourself as a living sacrifice, the aroma of that sacrifice cannot be contained. We do not turn inwards towards our children and towards our homes because we do not care about the world. We turn inwards because the world needs to smell this sacrifice. It can be easy for mothers to feel like no one can see us in our daily labor, like it doesn’t really matter. We can feel like picketing outside of an abortion clinic is the only way to stop such horror, and we are unfortunately burdened with little children so we can’t do it.
This is why I write for mothers about the small opportunities in the normal days, in the normal kind of lives that so many of us live. Not because I think more peaceful afternoons would be nice, and I can help you find them (I can’t). Not just because I think women need encouragement to love their children more. Not just because I think we need to value our own work and calling. I write about these things because when I became a mother I saw things differently. I realized that the opportunities to choose life are with us all the time. It is a continuous choice. A choice that never naps and never stops growing; it is a choice that can only be made in faith, by the grace of a Savior who showed us how to live on an altar.
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