Happy Mother’s Day.

Under the influence of feminism, many women today either do not want to be mothers or put off motherhood until later in life. Those planning to have children often want to enjoy several years of freedom first, or maybe they want to get their career started and climb the corporate ladder before having children. Some women want to sow their wild oats while they are young, expecting to get married in their mid-30s after they’ve had their fun. Beyond that, our culture tells women to focus on themselves, indulge themselves, and avoid commitment and sacrifice.

The result of all of this is that fertility rates have been steadily declining since the 1960s. The fertility rate today in the US is 1.6 births per woman. The replacement fertility rate is just over 2 births per woman. So we are not currently having enough children to replace the citizens who die. That’s a big problem because we need lots of young people to take care of our aging population.

A recent report [by the U.S. National Center for Health Statistics] revealed that the number of births in 2023 fell to the lowest level in over 40 years. Elon Musk recently said, “Low birth rates will end civilization.” He’s right about that, and he is doing his part to reverse that trend; he has 14 children from four different women.

In our culture, fewer women are becoming mothers, those who do become mothers are waiting longer before they have children (average first-time mother age is now 30), and women are having smaller families than previous generations.

Christians cannot simply imitate what is common in the culture. The fact that many women are avoiding motherhood, delaying motherhood, and having small families does not mean that Christian women should follow that pattern. The modern pattern is not normal, it is not sustainable, and it is not Christian.

Today is Mother’s Day, and we want to celebrate those mothers who follow the biblical pattern.

I’d like to make several recommendations regarding motherhood. Some of these recommendations pertain particularly to young women, those who could potentially be mothers, and some pertain to those who are already mothers. And I think all of these are biblical, Christian, reasonable recommendations regarding motherhood.