Making Oneself Ready for Motherhood

A mother cannot pass on to her child what she has not become. Kahlil Gibran, in The Prophet, says, \"Your children are not your children. They are the sons and daughters of life's longing for itself. They come through you, but not from you. And though they are with you, yet they belong not to you. You may house their bodies, but not souls.You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you.You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth.\"

We must honor our children by preparing ourselves to be strong vessels for carrying their unformed bodies and their sacred souls. (In this area of housing the soul, I disagree with Gibran) Children are not created to take care of us; we are to be protectors of them. Other animals mature very rapidly to sexual maturity. Human females in the United States of America seem to be physically maturing at earlier ages than they had in years past.

It is even more important now to protect our human young until they are fully formed in their bodies, minds, and sacred spirits. Only in this way will they produce fully human beings, instead of more wild animals that walk upright and have the power of speech.