This title is actually the title to a very old poem. There are four verses to the poem. Each verse is a lesson to the responsibility and power given a mother but I will use only the second one here.
“Infancy’s the tender fountain,
Power may with beauty flow,
Mother’s first to guide the streamlets,
From them souls unresting grow—
Grow on for the good or evil ,
Sunshine streamed or evil hurled;
For the hand that rocks the cradle
Is the hand that rules the world.”
Have you heard the popular term that a child’s mind is like a sponge? This is what the author, William R. Wallace, is saying when he writes that infancy is a tender fountain. Then he explains to the mother that along with her beauty in the eyes of the child, she also has an awesome power. She is the first person to mold those thoughts (streamlets) in that child’s mind. From the time that the baby cries in the cradle and is picked up, the mother lets him know, “If I cry, then she will hold me and maybe I will get food.” Or the mother may speak to the baby and the child learns, “although I do not see or feel anyone, I am not alone” and is comforted. That is the good influence.
Then there is the other. The baby learns that if he cries he will be smacked or ignored. Then the mother teaches him fear, rebellion and loneliness.
How does ignoring or just smacking a child teach them that? Think about it a minute. If the child is crying there is a reason in the beginning. Whether they are hungry, thirsty, uncomfortable for what ever reason-wet, tired of lying in one position, feel alone. Those are all reasons a baby may cry outside of more serious problems.
If you ignore them, and you are out of sight, then they really think they are alone. They are lying there crying (I need help, my back itches) then all of a sudden –“Will you shut up!” They think: “What was that for? Maybe she’s coming.” Then when you don’t show up they start back calling you the only way they know how at the time. A shout and a whack from you on a regular basis will teach them that you are one that is to be feared sometimes. As they grow, rebellion begins to show it’s head as the cycle continues: I need, I fuss, she yells, I become persistant, she whacks me and does what I want. Then mom is fed up with me and tells me to go on and now I am alone, until I fuss again.
Good or evil, those first training sessions stay with a child all their life. That is what the author states in the fourth verse when he says that a woman has a divine mission to keep the young heart open to the breath of God. Because, the hand that rocks the cradle, rules the world.
Did you know you have that much power as a mother? Why do you think that Satan is working so hard to destroy the role of a mother in the home? He is not stupid. He knows the God-given power you have to train your children for the Lord. Training covers every part of a child’s life: not just to show him the promise of blessing from God, but the duties and the very real dangers that will come with his walk with God.
Using the Word, train him in how he is to travel through this life. Daily, as God tells you in Deuteronomy 6, fix in their mind until it becomes a part of their personality, the way that God wants them to live for him. Then lead them by example to practice it, so that they become skillful in God’s ways. Praying always for wisdom. When you do this, then you have obeyed your calling as a godly mother.
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