Tag: mother

I Learned Something Crazy

Dale Pollard

There’s a process in which cells from a developing baby cross the placenta into the mother’s body during pregnancy. These baby cells can migrate into the mothers’ tissues and organs like the brain, heart, liver, skin, and bone marrow. This can stay in the mother for decades or even for a lifetime (FFM,cordblood.com). The different effects this has on the mom aren’t entirely understood– but there’s some interesting theories. Some studies seem to show that the DNA of a mother’s children can help fight off the growth of tumors or integrate into her tissue and help repair damages. It goes deeper than that, so feel free to chase the rabbit on your own.

Here’s what words came to my mind:

Intimate & Formation

“You create my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.

I praise you for I am fearfully and wonderfully made” (Ps. 139.13-16).

We don’t understand how true that passage is but the more we discover, the louder it becomes.

Pain, Protection, & Connection

With painful labor, the mother of all living (and every mother since then) gave birth to children (Gen. 3.16, Gen. 3.20). Motherhood is a God-ordained role of sacrifice and protection. The modern understanding of microchimerism shows that she will literally carry living remnants of her children and afterwards she’s biologically “programmed” for lifelong connection and care.

Mystery & Image

“That’s why man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh” (Gen. 2.24).

Paul would describe this as a “profound mystery” (Eph. 5.31-32).

While this is primarily about marriage, the “one flesh” language elucidates that fancy cellular mixing that occurs by design. Why would God make us like this? Probably for many reasons that aren’t understood yet, but it shows us how the image of one can be transferred and mixed with another.

A husband and a wife are mysteriously intertwined. A child’s DNA integrates with its mother. Those two things help us wrap our minds around Genesis 1.26-27 where God states that His creation is made in His image. What does that mean? It likely means more than we understand, but it seems to be illustrated in the overall design of mankind. Its complexity is another reminder of our immortality, purpose, and connection to our Creator.

The Dream Team

Tuesday’s Column: Dale Mail

Dale Pollard

Proverbs 1.8-9 

“My son, hear the instruction of your father, And do not forsake the law of your mother; For they will be a graceful ornament on your head,
And chains about your neck.”

  • Hear: More than just the process of hearing words spoken. The idea is to do something with the valuable information given, i.e., follow it. 
  • Instruction of your father: Just like ignoring proper building instructions/blueprints leads to an unstable house, ignoring wise instruction from the older and more experienced will lead to an unstable life. 
  • And do not forsake the law of your mother: Solomon emphasizes the importance of God’s design for the family. It’s the duty of both father and mother to provide wisdom (James 3.17) in the form of instruction (Prov. 4.13, 8.33, 10.8, 10.17, 12.1, 19.20). 
  • For they will be a graceful ornament on your head and chains about your neck: Training a child to fear the Lord begins with teaching children to have a proper fear (respect/reverence) of their parents and their seniors. For additional motivation, Solomon includes the maturing child’s reward. The ornaments and chains represent an upgrade in social status. As a general rule, godly teaching in the home, when combined with a willingness to hear— leads to financial and social success. 

“Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be prolonged in the land which the LORD your God gives you.” 

– Ex.  20:12

“Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Honor your father and mother, that it may be well with you and you will live long on the earth.” 

– Eph. 6:1-3

Jane Roe/Norma McCorvey

Neal Pollard

She was used by pro-abortion and pro-life groups, but in fairness nobody outdid Norma McCorvey at trying to use others for personal advantage. Her effort to abort her third child, in Texas in 1970, was the case used to go to the Supreme Court. By the time the appeals process wound up in legalizing abortion at the federal level, her baby was almost three years old and in the home of adoptive parents. She was the product of neglect and horrible abuse, was promiscuous, bisexual—though mostly lesbian, and was known to try to make her way by hook or crook for most of her life. She tried to leverage her infamy into financial advantage or at least a living wage.

It’s wonderful to see that this tormented woman publicly changed her position regarding the right and sanctity of the unborn, but her home life and adult life symbolize the growing immorality stemming from a breakdown in the home. A father fairly well abandoned his role in the home. Alcohol and drugs complicated and clouded the decisions and thinking within the home. Sexual immorality created multiple problems. Sin was perpetuated from poor examples there (The Washington Post, Emily Langer, 2/18/17).

Pew Research found that 46% of “U.S. kids younger than 18 years of age are living in a home with two married heterosexual parents in their first marriage. This is a marked change from 1960, when 73% of children fit this description, and 1980, when 61% did” (Gretchen Livingston, 12/22/14). This is only part of the story. I know of several scripturally divorced and remarried couples, with blended families, who have raised righteous, believing children. But, the general breakdown of the home is at the heart of so many of society’s woes.

The foregoing is far from revelatory. Sermons, articles, and Bible classes have trumpeted it for years. What I see in our broken society is endless opportunity. It will require patience, time, and lots of love, but homes like the one McCorvey grew up in and the one she attempted herself are craving what only Christ can supply—fulfillment, joy, peace, and direction. That is where you and I come in. Let us remember what we’ve been told by God: “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light” (1 Pet. 2:9). Let’s be shining!

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Who Can Find An Excellent Wife?

Neal Pollard

An excellent wife, who can find?
Her worth is far above gems.
Rack your brain and search your mind,
To find a brightness that time never dims.

Her husband implicitly trusts in her,
For this he will lack no gain,
She is trustworthy and spiritually sure
For as long as her days remain.

She’s shrewd and savvy, industrious
And constantly on the go,
To the poor and needy she’s generous
Through her deeds others her husband they know

Though out and about, her household she serves
How well she looks to its operation
Her children and husband give the praise she deserves
They claim her with pride and elation

Mere physical charm and beauty do not measure
The excellence of wife or of mother
But her fear of the Lord makes her a true treasure
And crowns her with charm like none other.