It’s something more than mere capacity, the way a womb is something more than equipment.

We must quest to find it within us: it’s spiritual, magical, given to bookish qualities. You’d think that because we are, we need not study, but rather focus on comprehending what we are not. But books are written, ideals sought, the quest leads us deeper.

Where does mother-love come from? And what is it? Perhaps I should call it unconditional love, since others beside Mothers possess it; and since there are many mother impostors: void of natural emotion, operating the equipment to fulfill a duty rather than a need. Prostitute Moms, we’ll say.
My mind has been turning upon this quote:

Woman should fill the position which God originally designed for her, as her husband’s equal.The world needs mothers who are mothers not merely in name but in every sense of the word.We may safely say that the distinctive duties of woman are more sacred, more holy, than those of man. (E. G. White, Adventist Home 231)

This was written in the 18-1900’s. There is no doubt that present generations lack the genteel womanliness of yesteryear. But Victorian does not define woman any more than feminist does. Though most women have the capability to bear or acquire children, not all will; and of those who do, possessing children does not make one motherly. And of course, one is not required to mother in order to be a "real" woman.

I’m not interested in Feminist Debate or the Mommy-Wars or Gay Parent terminology, though I don’t presume we may ignore the issues entirely. MY focus is a narrow one:    

"The world needs mothers who are mothers not merely in name but in every sense of the word." The world does have a need. Just ask its children. Ask its struggling adults.

But woman who are motherly "in every sense of the word"? In an age of widely diverse values, what does that look like? This focus is broader than we imagined. Perhaps we have imagined it, but simply took it for granted.
What exactly ARE the many senses of that word mother? Can we ever define them apart from the fairy tales, without losing our ideals? Can we find the comforting and familiar in startlingly new perspectives, or is mother a concept that can never change lest it cease to exist?

It’s something more than a masquerade–an assumed role, the way children are more than charges, and parenting is not about the pay.Uninhibited Love, we’ll say.