It Takes Courage to Be a Mother, Especially in Our Current Culture

Mothers matter. We know that. We’ve always known that. Every mother, I’m sure, would also say it’s work, though—hard work. I honor mothers because it’s even harder work and requires even more courage in our current culture.

I recently had a conversation in which I said if I were young and considering a family, I would pause. That’s not to say I’m one of those who discourages families from having children; I am not. It is to say—and I don’t know if that’s a good admission on my part—that the world has gotten so challenging, for lack of a better world. It reminds me of a passage in To Kill a Mockingbird, the greatest book in the world, where Jem gets a taste of the ugliness of his world and the people in it and comes to the conclusion that the reason Boo Radley never comes outside is “because he wants to stay inside.” That’s a sad thought for a young boy who is supposed to see the beauty of life and its ideal and plan for his future. But sometimes, life just lifes, as they say, and you get to see that it’s not all good.

Today, a lot of it isn’t good—so many agendas and narratives and messages pouring into children and young adults that are the antithesis of what good parents want for their children. Many dangers lurk, and they often come from places that we expect to be safe and people we should be able to trust.