Deliberate Motherhood: 12 Key Powers of Peace, Purpose, Order & Joy - Softcover

The Power Of Moms

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1938301900 ISBN 13: 9781938301902

Publisher: Familius, 2013

Synopsis

The outstanding authors of Deliberate Motherhood have let the trials and hardships of motherhood mold them into better people. Whether the change includes learning patience when the two-year-old “paints” your walls with the black permanent marker or forgiving a teenager who screams “I hate you,” or loving more when that naughty child doesn’t really deserve it, it’s a change that refines us—or as the dictionary describes it, “removes impurities, makes something more effective or become more elegant.” That is powerful!

You may think that everything has been said about motherhood, but the delightful thing about Deliberate Motherhood is that every mother/author is one-of-a-kind. They each come from different backgrounds, have different parents, are married (or not) to different people, and certainly have “different” children.

Each of the 12 “Powers” provided in this book is a crucial component to help you in your motherhood. And the best part is that you don’t need to do it all at once. You can focus on one “power” a month, and over the course of a year, you’ll see great changes in yourself and in your family. The mark of a great book is that it makes you think . . . and it helps you change . . . which in the case of this book, is an absolute guarantee!

About this title

About the Author

Power of Moms (www.powerofmoms.com) has become an online gathering place for more than one million moms since 2007. With regular podcasts, articles, videos, programs, and in-person retreats worldwide, they have created a haven for mothers who share in the same triumphs and struggles and are dedicated to doing their very best.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Perhaps “powerful” is not the first adjective that comes to mind when we think of motherhood and what it means in our day-to-day lives as moms. But motherhood is powerful beyond measure. Your influence as a mother is more exciting than you know and more long-lasting than you can conceive. While we can feel pretty powerless as the laundry piles up and the baby cries, we, as mothers, have amazing powers that can be defined and refined to yield beautiful results. With inspiration from the 60 mothers who contributed their stories and hard-won wisdom to this book, motherhood becomes more stimulating, more rewarding, and more deliberate.

In the late 1800s, William Ross Wallace wrote a beautiful poem about motherhood that includes this phrase at the end of each stanza : “The hand that rocks the cradle is the hand that rules the world.” For good or for ill, mothers are shaping the next generation of children who will shape the future of our world (even though it might seem that they’re only capable of making messes at present). Barbara Bush got it right when she stated at her Wellesley College Commencement address, "Your success as a family, our success as a society, depends not on what happens in the White House, but on what happens in YOUR house."

As a mom, what you do today and each ordinary day that follows with your children is more important and more dramatic than any of us can imagine. Through sometimes-tedious daily routines, we teach our children about love, tolerance, patience and understanding—just as surely as we teach them how to make snap judgments and how to get angry. (I know . . . I wrote a book when all our nine children were home called I Didn’t Plan to be a Witch.) But as long as your children can see that you are valiantly trying, that you love them dearly, and that they are your first priority, great things will come out the other end!

Much of what you are teaching your children today will also seep through the generations to your grandchildren and great-grandchildren and on and on. I love this quote by Anna Quindlen:
“We are building for the centuries. We are building character, and tradition, and values, which meander like a river into the distance and out of our sight, but on and on and on. [Motherhood] is a way of life, chosen in great ignorance and the bedrock of much of what we are, and will become.”

As we focus on nurturing our children and helping them become the people they need to be, we can and should focus on nurturing the various “powers” that reside within us. Personal development does not need to happen at the expense of our children’s development. In fact, our children’s development depends upon our personal development. The refiner’s fire of motherhood changes you. It can make you better. We can truly become the people we really want to be through striving to become the mothers we really want to be.

The outstanding authors of this book have let the trials and hardships of motherhood make them into better people. Whether the change includes learning patience when the two-year-old “paints” your walls with the black permanent marker or forgiving a teenager who screams “I hate you,” or loving more when that naughty child doesn’t really deserve it, it’s a change that refines us—or as the dictionary describes it, “removes impurities, makes something more effective or become more elegant.” That is powerful!

You may think that everything has been said about motherhood, but the delightful thing about this book is that every mother/author is one-of-a-kind. They each come from different backgrounds, have different parents, are married (or not) to different people, and certainly have “different” children.

Each of the 12 “Powers” expanded upon in this book is a crucial component to help you in your motherhood. And the best part is that you don’t need to do it all at once. You can focus on one “power” a month, and over the course of a year, you’ll see great changes in yourself and in your family. The mark of a great book is that it makes you think . . . and it helps you change . . . which in the case of this book, is an absolute guarantee!

Edition details

• Publisher: Familius
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 1938301900
• ISBN 13: 9781938301902
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 276