“I am 30 years old, I am unemployed, and I am living off the very end of my savings. I switched jobs 3 times in the last 2 years, … I have no 401k,…, I have no desire to get married or have kids for the foreseeable future, … I feel like I am completely irrelevant. I am so not where I thought I would be at 30 years old.”

I recently heard that testimony from a woman who seemed to be very disappointed with her life. I feel sorry for her. She’s made a series of decisions that have resulted in significant failure and disappointment. I wonder what her testimony would be if she’d have gotten married and had a couple of kids. I wonder if she would feel “completely irrelevant” if she were taking care of a husband and children instead of working a series of dead-end jobs.

That woman has thus far avoided both marriage and children. Many people today, married or unmarried, are purposefully avoiding having children. You’ve perhaps heard of the “Dual income no children” arrangement where a couple gets married and intentionally has no children. Because they have no children, they have more money to spend on themselves. I wonder how they’ll feel about that when they are 70 or 80 years old and have no family to care for them, no grandkids running around, no one to inherit their wealth.

Because people are choosing not to marry and not have children, the birth rate has been decreasing in the US for many years. In the 1960s, the average family had about 4 kids. Today, the birthrate in the US is 1.62. The replacement rate is 2.1 children per family. That means that our population is decreasing—except for immigration.

Many women are choosing not to become mothers. Some choose not to get married; some who marry choose not to have children. And sadly, many women have children without getting married; those children grow up in an unstable home.

Today is Mother’s Day, so we want to celebrate and encourage the biblical model of motherhood. People choose many other models for living today, but I would encourage all young women to plan on getting married and having children. Plan to assume the traditional roles of wife, mother, and homemaker. For those who already are married and have children, I’d encourage you to appreciate your privileges and responsibilities as mothers.

Fulfilling the roles of wife and mother is a good way to avoid the disappointment and irrelevance expressed by the woman I mentioned earlier. Fulfillment is found in doing what God designed you to do. There can hardly be anything more relevant and meaningful than having children and raising them in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.

Today I want to consider several biblical truths to focus on this Mother’s Day: