Book Review

For Every Mother by Janene Wolsey Baadsgaard

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Beautifully written.... I feel so inspired by her insights, encouragement, and humor about motherhood.
I recommend this to every mother. She has a way of writing that cuts to the meat of what we do as mothers...her words have reminded me of what is most important among all the many things required of me as a mother.

Here's a few favorite excerpts:

Maybe the best thing is not looking for a 'better time'. Perhaps today really is as good as it gets. If we don't look at today as though it could be the best day of our lives, then we might never get to have one.

When we catch a glimpse of what it means to be a mother and how our actions or failure to act will affect thousands for generations, we will never undervalue our contribution again. Motherhood frees us to love someone more than ourselves and gives a dimension of sacredness to everything we do.

One favorite part came from a story...
"The world never stops rushing you," the grandma says to every new mother who will listen. "Find your own pace. Slow down. Do less. Listen. Simplify. Remove distractions. The greatest gift you have to give others is you...unhurried and refreshed. Drink deeply from the well of your own life."

We start out feeling like we're giving up something more important to raise children and end up realizing raising children IS the important part. We start out thinking we're sacrificing our personal development and end up realizing loving someone is the ultimate road to personal development. We quite literally find ourselves when we lose ourselves. In the end, we realize that everything that matters most is sitting around our kitchen table. And that's something to pause and think about.

We know we may be invisible to society--but we are not invisible to God. Each scraped knee we tend and each night of sleep we sacrifice is a personal purification process. Motherhood is God's school.



View all my reviews