Shaping the Future

When I was about twelve years old, I was assigned the job of dusting the living room. As I removed each item from end tables and shelves, I came across my mom’s Bible, sitting where she read it in the living room each morning. I paused in my dusting to thumb through it—the pages worn and marked. Outlines and reminders spilled over each page; definitions and highlights and remarks from helpful sermons crowded the small margins. The cover of the Bible had a crease from being opened so often. My mom didn’t even know that day that her Bible was preaching a sermon to me. Over the years, my mom taught junior high English, worked at a restaurant, and even recorded short readings at a local Christian radio station. But I tend to think the mark she left from a worn Bible on an end table was her most noble achievement. It changed my life.

Ever since Creation, we women have sought to be heard. History records the stories of noble heroines who protested (Rosa Parks), engaged in war efforts (“Rosie the Riveter”), and even lay down their lives (Joan of Arc). As courageous and admirable as each of these heroines were, we as women have often shortchanged ourselves when it came to our most important voice. We have the power to change the world—not just from marches on Washington and posters on our lawns, but first and foremost from our homes, simply by proving to those who watch us what we love most.

I wonder what my kids would say if they were asked what I love most. Would they run to show you my laptop? Would they have to fish around the sofa cushions for the TV remote? Would they tell you about the jar of peanut butter and contraband chocolate chips I keep stashed in the kitchen cupboard?

Moms, the future is ours—in the form of a sticky-faced little creature who peeks around the corner each morning as we pray and read our Bibles. We shape the future by what we love today.