“On the one hand, what my culture says to me [about motherhood] is ‘strive, strive, strive, don’t rest,’ but on the other hand, what I’m offered is a boatload of complacency and grumbling. Neither of these seems good to me, which makes me wonder... is there a better way?” asked alumna Kira Nelson (Journalism, ’13) in the first episode of her bi-weekly podcast Delighted Motherhood.
As a young mother, Nelson found herself discouraged by the narrative the world presented her, but she also found that Christian narratives tended to focus on the same negative side, namely exhaustion. “I wanted to have a different narrative. I wanted to say, ‘yes, motherhood is very hard, yes, it’s exhausting, yes, it’s overwhelming,’ but that we can have a delighted motherhood.” Nelson’s desire to change the narrative led to the advent of her own podcast.
Delighted Motherhood, Nelson said, “is about delighting ourselves in the world and enjoying our kids to the glory of God.” Being a delighted mother doesn’t mean that the difficulties surrounding motherhood go away, instead, it means that mothers are
In her first episode, Nelson described this foundational principle of Christianity further. She said that the basis of philandros is not her children, it is a call, first and foremost, to be
Nelson has always had a heart for ministry, which is one of the reasons she found Patrick Henry College so appealing. “Our professors really fostered a desire to know [the Lord] more through our classes, and … they encouraged us to invest in one another.”
Nelson found that the Journalism program at PHC prepared her to write expediently. “I am a mom with three kids, very involved in my neighborhood, very involved in my church, and I want to do a podcast. …I think that the volume that Dr. Les Sillars had us writing really equipped me to able to write fast.” She also found that PHC inculcated in her an entrepreneurial spirit and an ability to figure things out for herself.
Nelson designed Delighted Motherhood to cover a variety of topics, from postpartum weakness to traveling with children to the more difficult conversations. “I have been really encouraged by thinking really deeply about some of the most challenging aspects of motherhood from our perspective of delighting in the Lord and seeking to find moments of joy,” Nelson said.
Nelson plans to continue her bi-weekly podcast. “Overall, I just want to continue to encourage my own heart towards the things that are most important. And if those things are also encouraging to other mothers, I'm thankful.”
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