Fat Little Souls

Wide Eyed
Originally uploaded by Steve Bremer

"Though a mother's work can seem monotonous or repetitive (and it is) when it comes to doing the laundry or changing the diapers, we have to have the eye of faith as we go. God blesses all these loving duties to the prospering of the souls of both mother and children. Reading stories over and over, stacking the blocks one more time, washing a face, wiping a nose, changing a wet diaper, or putting fresh sheets on the bed are all ways that a mother cares for her children and communicates love and security. And in some mysterious way, God uses it like sunshine and water on a tender plant. So we plant and water, but it is He who gives the increase.
All the loving attentiveness a mother gives her children is food for their souls. When the child is a small baby, all those smiles and kind words, the laughing and playfulness, the motherly delight and pride in each new accomplishment, is used by God to prosper the baby's soul. And it continues as the child grows. Even the smallest gesture, if done in love and kindness, is nourishing. And we want children with fat little souls, children who are healthy plants, as in Psalm 144:12, 'that our sons may be as plants grown up in their youth.'"

From http://www.credenda.org/issues/17-3femina.php; also seen in Building Her House (which I'm reading right now and highly recommend).