Motherhood with Eve

"In the Beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters." Gen 1:1-2

There was nothing. God created the entire world with what He wanted it to be and look like. In this world He created man and woman. Have you ever wondered how to do something? In today's world, we get on the internet and search for people who can tell us the answer or point us to the right direction. When we think about motherhood and pregnancy we turn to books like "What to Expect When You're Expecting." We turn from page to page only to realize that their is no textbook answer to pregnancy woes. Each woman is different having picture perfect pregnancies to "I have every symptom in the book" pregnancies. After we have our children, we then wonder what we are doing wrong (or right). Why is little Johnny doing this and not that? Should he be rolling over by now? Is he sleeping enough, eating enough, doing enough? The questions never end.

I say all of this because if there is one mom in scripture that I have the most questions for it is Eve. The reality is this woman had NO example to look to. She sinned. God punished her. As Gen 3:16a tells us, "I (God) will surely multiply your pain in children bearing; in pain you shall bring forth children."

Here are the thoughts that go into my head as I piece this together:
1) Adam and Eve had NO idea being naked was wrong.
2) Did she even know how a baby was created?
3) How would she know how this kid was going to exit her body?
4) Did her body give her hints early on that she would be the one to feed her children until they could eat the crops they grew and game they killed?
5) How do you raise children when you have NO example of a mother?

Now, I understand that God would be an example to her. He showed them love, punishment, and grace. We know that Adam and Eve had Cain, Abel, Seth, and many other sons and daughters. Adam lived to be 930 years old (Gen 4:4).
Facts on this:
1) Cain kills Abel. A mother lives through being the first sinner, being the first mother, and now seeing one of her sons kill his brother.
2) Seth is son that God appoints.
3) Eve is beyond "19 Kids and Counting," if you catch my drift.

For roughly 900 years, Eve has children upon children. She experiences every type of pregnancy there can be, and lives to see many things that her children will do. I've had three children, two of them with nothing to help really relieve the pain. I'm not sure how Eve did it that many times. I don't feel it is a pain that you ever get used to. She and Adam teach their children to call upon the Lord (Gen 4:26). The thing is that we know that with the fall of the man, she must witness them do the very thing God was trying to protect them from doing, sinning.

Eve was the first mom in the world. When people talk about their favorite mom in the Bible they are quick to say Hannah or Mary. However, we forget this beautiful woman. The first and only one to actually come from her husband. She would be punished to want to rule over him though that was not God's will, and she would have to watch the children she bore live in sin because of her faithlessness. Where is the grace in all this? God allowed her to see Seth. He let her know that Seth would bring about THE lineage of God's ultimate plan.

I can't imagine doing this motherhood thing without the example I have seen from my mother and other Christian women much less experiencing pregnancy and birth with no knowledge of what was going to really happen. Eve, you are forgotten a lot because there are mom like Hannah in the Bible, but lady you shouldn't be forgotten. You bore the pain of much more than I will ever experience. We don't know how your story continues or ends, but I hope that it was one that gained faith in the God that created you to honor Him. The heart ache and pain of sin, murder, and just living after your failures I hope you found peace in all of it. I hope you counted it all as joy!

The New Normal

A long hiatus from blogging continues with our family expanding from four to five. God graciously gave us a beautiful surprise in Brother. Just when my husband (the YP), and I thought we were content with just Light and Hollow, God brings us our third son. I must say that our life is much more complete with him in it.

As the YP is gone for a summer camp, I sit at home alone with the three boys thinking about motherhood at it's core. It has made me think about what we have as examples (good or bad) in the Bible. I want to dedicate a few months on this thought.

When we posed with the question, "Who is your favorite mom in the Bible?" Who would you say? I want to explore these moms and get a better understanding of their mothering and their situations.

And so I begin... Moms in the Bible... stay tuned...