Mothers, think about your daughters.  Think about what they may be like when they are “all grown up.”  No matter what profession they may choose to pursue, I’m sure that many of you hope that your daughters will one day become wives and mothers.  How will our daughters know how to be godly wives and mothers?  How will they know what it looks like to be biblically feminine in the home?  They must learn it primarily from us – their mothers!

 

Over the next couple of weeks, we will look at how mothers can help to prepare their daughters for these roles of wife and mother – NOW, as teenagers, and even younger!  Don’t we want our daughters to be fully prepared for the role which will encompass so much of their lives – perhaps more than two-thirds of it?!

 

In his book Female Piety: A Young Woman’s Guide, puritan preacher John Angell James  urges young females to diligently prepare for the future NOW, while they are in the springtime of their lives:

 

 “You are… passing through the spring of your life;  and as in nature, so in your existence, there can be but one spring;  and in each case, it is the spring that will give the character to the seasons that follow it.  It is then the seeds of intelligence, of prudence, of virtue, of piety, must be sown, or there will be no produce in the afterperiods of your history.   A seedless spring must here also be followed by a fruitless autumn, and a destitute, dreary, and cheerless winter…” (pg. 102, Female Piety: A Young Woman’s Guide, by John Angell James)

 

Although many of us no longer have gardens in our back yards, we all know how they work!  Plant seeds in the spring… reap the harvest in the summer and autumn.  As John Angell James pointed out, the same process can be applied to our lives.  God gives us strong warnings in His Word… we will reap what we sow, as will our daughters.

 

We read in Galatians 6:7,8, “Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap.  For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.”

 

Oh, how I want my daughters to bear sweet fruit when they are grown women, but that will require much work on my part – and theirs!  I want them to not only be able to effectively care for a household, but also effectively serve the God they have grown to love and adore.  It is never too early to begin sowing the seeds that will grow and develop into beautiful, godly character.  And there definitely comes a point when it becomes harder and harder to sow those seeds and set life-long habits that lead to godliness.