He Has Called Me To Mother

 “Because I feel that, in the Heavens above 

The angels, whispering to one another, 

Can find, among their burning terms of love

None so devotional as that of ‘Mother’” – Edgar Allen Poe

"You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you. John 15:16

Have you ever just looked at your kids and realized how quickly they've grown? Then, do you feel that motherly panic as you calculate how much longer they will be in your home before heading off into the world as adults and you have no time to waste to love them enough, teach them enough, and show them all the right things enough??? It happens to me all the time. I know my kids will not be in my arms forever and so I want to fill them with love and godly wisdom enough for their time away from me. I want them to know how I have prayed for them and cried for them and that I am always a safe place for them. I want them to take away from me how much God loves them and how my faith is what keeps me altogether on even the craziest of days. I want the same things for my foster babies.

It's no different when I look at the foster children in my care. Just as I know my kids will one day leave my home, so will they. Just as I want my kids to know in the depths of their soul how much I love them, I want the same for my foster babies. The only difference is that once they leave, they will probably never come back. They won't remember me like I will remember them. They are His children placed in my care to love and nurture and help heal as long as they are here. God did not call me to motherhood only when I gave birth. God did not grant me this precious privilege to be shared with only those who share my DNA. No, God called me to be a mother and sometimes that means to children only He has known until they enter my home. Children are His gift and it's an honor to me that He chooses to share with me many times over. 

I hear most often that people do not foster because they are worried they will get attached or that it will hurt or that it's a lot of baggage. Um, have you met your own children? Seriously, if that was our deepest concern with children we would never have any at all! No child comes with a manual or a guarantee of no malfunctions. Every child you have you love with all your heart and sometimes they turn around and break it; the risk we take in loving others with the deepest parts of ourselves. Every child, whether foster or bio, deserves to be loved with the greatest love God has given me Himself. When I was yet His enemy, He sent His Son to die for me. Before I loved Him enough to follow, He loved me enough to offer me grace. That is my example for fostering. I do not need to know them, He does. I do not need to qualify them to be loved, He already has. I only need to follow my calling to mother and care for the "least of these". I believe God gave mothers extra, extra big hearts so that He could fill us with so much love, we wouldn't have to be stingy in giving it away. 

It's  not always an easy job, being a mother. Sometimes it rips your heart out. Sometimes it makes you sure you will go crazy. All the time, it's the best thing I've ever done. They do not need to be mine forever, I'm content to have them as mine right now. I am a mother to many, that is my call.