Ministry of Motherhood - Book Review

The Ministry of Motherhood: Following Christ's Example in Reaching the Hearts of Our Children by Sally Clarkson and published by WaterBrook Press is about developing and implementing a plan as we pass our faith onto our children.

Sally Clarkson uses the relationships between Jesus and his Disciples as a model for how we can share our faith with our children and encourage them to develop their own faith.

I love the idea of approaching motherhood as a ministry. Both motherhood and ministry take a lot of hard work, emotional investment and self-sacrifice. Not to mention time. Lots and lots of time.

Thinking of my daily mundane tasks as ministry helps me to have a long-term focus instead of just surviving today.

I loved the intro and first two sections of this book. You can follow the links to read my thoughts on those parts: Intro, 1st Section, 2nd Section.

To be honest I struggled to finish the rest of the book. I think there were four reasons:

• I over-committed myself in several activities this spring;
  
• I am a very practical action-oriented person and didn't find a lot of tips in this book;
• My children (all under 6 years) are too young to really apply much of what is discussed in the later chapters;
• I was extremely sleep-deprived when I read this book (from nursing an infant and the aforementioned over-commitments!).
  

Having said that, let me quickly add - I think this book is worth reading for any mom. Even if your children are young like mine, it is worth thinking ahead to how you will minister to them in the future. I plan to keep my copy and re-visit it in a few years for fresh ideas and approaches to mothering my children.

My take aways from this book include making God and Jesus a conscious part of our lives. To say "come see!" And to see my children as unique individuals with different personalities and needs rather than as a group.

Have you read The Ministry of Motherhood? What did you learn from the book?

Thank you to those who participated in the SMB Book Club. I apologize for dropping the ball! I over-committed myself in several areas this spring and, unfortunately, this was one of them. Thank you for your understanding!!