A quick look at our culture shows that idealized images of motherhood are inaccurate, and Scripture reveals the same. Ruth was left childless and widowed at a young age. Rachel, Hannah, and Sarah were infertile. Eve and Mary lost sons under terrible circumstances. Two mothers of two kings, both named Ahaziah, encouraged their sons to be wicked and unjust. The Prodigal Son acted with terrible disrespect ...

A transformation occurred in me with the birth of my children. I traded in that professional look for sweatpants. I found myself at the park with my children, looking at working women and thinking, I'd like to be doing that.

But the transformation went deeper than trading my business suit for a pair of sweatpants. There was something else going on when I had children. I knew my life had been invaded ...

The Thing in the Bushes is a book about corporate blind spots. Authors Kevin Graham Ford and James D. Osterhaus point out that most leaders of companies or other organizations know "something is seriously wrong, but they can't see it. Something unidentified and insidious is lurking in the shadows like a 'thing in the bushes,' and it has the organization in a death grip." Through careful research, ...

During 2009's World Population Day (an annual event, observed on July 11, that seeks to raise awareness of global population issues), Indian Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad promoted an unusual idea for dealing with overpopulation in India. He suggested a new policy that would allow most of the poor in rural India to have access to television. According to his vision, "amorous couples would watch ...

In a 2007 article for Christianity Today, Jenell Williams Paris, a mother to infant twins, explained how motherhood cultivates the spiritual discipline of self-denial every single day. Naps for little ones dictate the reality of a nap for the caretaker. A baby's cry for milk tears a carefully constructed schedule to pieces. Sickness demands a steady healing hand. The challenge for the mother, Paris ...

Since becoming an internet juggernaut, Facebook has taken some real hits from folks. That tends to happen when something takes off in popularity. But the next time you wonder if it's of any value at all, especially for the church, you might want to consider the story of Avril Grube—a story that teaches us that the social networking giant can be used for a lot more than just cute status updates ...

How often married women, ages 25-50, with two or more children, say they have a date night with their spouse:

• Once a week or more often: 4 percent
• Once a month or more often: 21 percent
• Once every 2-3 months: 21 percent
• Once every 4-6 months: 18 percent
• Once every 7 months or less often: 36 percent

In most families, miscommunications are a common event. And when mothers are involved, overcommunication can sometimes be an issue. But a recent court ruling from Austria highlights a rift between mother and son that is truly remarkable—and truly sad.

A woman from the town of Klagenfurt was fined 360 euros ($478) on a charge of stalking her adult son. It was the son who filed the lawsuit, claiming ...

The Fantasy: As your little ones sit quietly at the kitchen table and hum along with Beethoven, they absorb their age-appropriate encyclopedias. Meanwhile, you recreate the map of the U.S. using homemade sugar cookies. Ahhh, you think to yourself. This is what life's all about.

The Reality: Your little darlings simultaneously shriek, "Mine!" as they rip the latest Bob the Builder coloring book in two. ...

A few years ago, ChristianityToday.com asked readers to share how much their mothers and grandmothers meant to them. In response, Bill Fix, of Taylor, Michigan, shared a moving testimony about his mother's faithful witness:

[Mom] grew up around the coal mines where her daddy worked, deep in the mountainous regions of Virginia. She came from a large, poverty-stricken family, so she learned how to be ...