Written By Nancy Campbell from Above Rubies

Some mothers have shared how they have faithfully stayed home to homeschool their children, but now the children have grown and left the nest. What do they do now? One mother mentioned that she feels scared about going back in the workforce after being home all these years.

Dear older mothers, why do you feel you now have to go back to the work force? Your career hasn’t changed. You are just moving into a different gear. God doesn’t take away your motherhood career just because your children have grown! You are entering into a greater realm of motherhood. There is a world of afflicted and hurting people waiting for your love and encouragement. Ask God who He wants you to reach out to. Ask Him who He wants you to gather into your home to love and nurture. Now that your children are grown, you have more time to reach the broken-hearted, to uplift, and strengthen the downcast and disillusioned.

What about the young mothers? As older mothers, we are commanded to teach them and show them the way God wants them to live. We don’t show them the way by going out of the home and going into the workforce. That gives them a false picture. You can’t do one thing and say another. You must live what you speak. One of the greatest cries of mothers is that they have no one to encourage them. I hear it daily.

Rise up, older mothers. You don’t have time to waste your life earning a bit of extra pocket money. You have a world of young mothers who need encouraging and help; single mothers who need uplifting and strengthening; young singles who need inspiring in the ways of God instead of the ways of the world; older people who are lonely and have no one to care for them; those who sick and in prison; and all the hurting, troubled, and brokenhearted all around you (Matthew 25:31-46). Help, I can’t find the time to do one tenth of all I would like to do in ministering to those who need Jesus.

And dear older mothers, you have a home! Don’t vacate it. Your home is the greatest place to serve God in the entire world. Ask God who He wants you to invite into your home for a meal. Ask a family over to supper who need encouraging. Ask a young mother with her children over to lunch to bless her and encourage her. Open your home in hospitality. Open your doors wide. You will never be bored again.

And look out. The grandchildren will soon be coming. How wonderful. Encourage your children to have children. That’s what the Bible tells us to do (Jeremiah 29:6) and be ready and waiting for them.

God gives the picture of His plan for women in 1 Timothy 5:10. It speaks of the young mother embracing motherhood, but as her children grow, we see her growing more and more powerful in her anointing of motherhood as she opens her home in hospitality and reaches out to the needy. She is described as “having a reputation for good works: if she has brought up children, has shown hospitality, has washed the feet of the saints, has cared for the afflicted, and has devoted herself to every good work.”

Lift up your eyes. A wonderful world of ministry awaits you.

Have a great day, Nancy Campbell

***I made a video four years ago about my life as an older woman and empty-nester, if you’re interested!