Who is a mother?

The woman who endures the pangs of childbirth? The woman who opens her heart and home to a child not of her body? What of the women who yearn to nurture a child but are unable to do so?

The Bible records no children of Deborah, the fourth and only female judge of the Israelites, yet in Judges 5:7 she sings “…I, Deborah, arose, a mother in Israel…”

Deborah served her God and nurtured a nation as judge, warrior, wife, composer, and prophet. She walked with Israel as the people cried out to God for help and relief from Canaanite oppression. She led and encouraged them through their struggles.

Motherhood is the nourishing of life. It is helping someone develop potential in spite of painful processes. A mother is an influencer.

I don’t know who gave birth to Helen Keller (okay – Mrs. Keller), but I know who mothered her. Anne Sullivan refused to give up on her, refused to abandon her to a lifetime of isolation, refused to ignore the potential she perceived within Helen.

Although I have a beloved mother, my English teacher – Miss Juanita Colter, are you out there? – also ‘mothered’ me by taking seriously, the work of a shy, 7^th grader who finally worked up the nerve to share her writing.

Whom do you mother?