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Mothering Against Futility: Balancing Meaning and Mundanity in the Fear of the Lord
Simona Gorton calls women to embrace the God–glorifying tension between the seemingly meaningless work and the weighty responsibility of motherhood.
We know the gospel impacts the repetitive, mundane work so inherent in homemaking and mothering, but how does that knowledge work itself out in the fabric of late nights and spilled oatmeal?
As mothers, we live in the tension between the seemingly meaningless ‘everyday’ of our callings and the magnificent realities of the gospel and what God promises to do through us as mothers as we raise up the next generation to His glory.
This book was written to showcase how God uniquely uses the ‘vanity’ inherent in the work of motherhood to display the beauties of the gospel in and through us as we fix our eyes on its truth.
If there is value in the mundanity, we can glory even in this ‘menial’ work as we come to see even in this the wisdom of God. The mundanity itself is a signpost pointing us to the glory of God if we’ll let it. In the calling of motherhood, God transforms our sight and opens our eyes to the gospel paradoxes of weakness as strength, smallness as glory, inefficiency as faithfulness. Our lives and actions as mothers, surrendered to Him like loaves and fishes, can become stunning showpieces of gospel hope and glimpses of eternal hilarity and joy.
Simona pulls together themes from the book of Ecclesiastes to see how it speaks specifically to many of the challenges we face as mothers in this encouraging book.
An IntroductionExperience and EcclesiastesAll is Vanity – Or Is It?Remembering the GoalWho is Sufficient?Motherhood as SufferingHope in ChildbearingThe Apologetic of MotherhoodThe Magic of SimpleA Compass in the Fog
We know the gospel impacts the repetitive, mundane work so inherent in homemaking and mothering, but how does that knowledge work itself out in the fabric of late nights and spilled oatmeal?
As mothers, we live in the tension between the seemingly meaningless ‘everyday’ of our callings and the magnificent realities of the gospel and what God promises to do through us as mothers as we raise up the next generation to His glory.
This book was written to showcase how God uniquely uses the ‘vanity’ inherent in the work of motherhood to display the beauties of the gospel in and through us as we fix our eyes on its truth.
If there is value in the mundanity, we can glory even in this ‘menial’ work as we come to see even in this the wisdom of God. The mundanity itself is a signpost pointing us to the glory of God if we’ll let it. In the calling of motherhood, God transforms our sight and opens our eyes to the gospel paradoxes of weakness as strength, smallness as glory, inefficiency as faithfulness. Our lives and actions as mothers, surrendered to Him like loaves and fishes, can become stunning showpieces of gospel hope and glimpses of eternal hilarity and joy.
Simona pulls together themes from the book of Ecclesiastes to see how it speaks specifically to many of the challenges we face as mothers in this encouraging book.
An IntroductionExperience and EcclesiastesAll is Vanity – Or Is It?Remembering the GoalWho is Sufficient?Motherhood as SufferingHope in ChildbearingThe Apologetic of MotherhoodThe Magic of SimpleA Compass in the Fog
128 pages, Paperback
Published January 14, 2025
30 people are currently reading
237 people want to read
About the author
Simona Gorton
5 books5 followersSimona Gorton is a wife, mother, church member, author, and former International Operations Manager for 9Marks.
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Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
May 26, 2025
I relate to Simona Gorton very much. Our tendencies match even down to the playlist we would choose for an hour of cleaning the house alone (Billy Joel). More importantly, I struggle with the same temptations and mindsets: wanting to prove myself through my productivity, wanting to work so hard that I don't have to be uncomfortably dependent on God. I can only write those last two sentences because I read this book, because never in my life had I ever seen the connection between idolatry of control and (what I thought was) a great work ethic. In this book, Gorton wisely reveals the heart of these tendencies and shows how motherhood, as a hindrance to "productivity," is a gift from God to give us more of the Gospel.
This was exactly I needed for my temptation patterns and workaholic attitudes--and as a great feet-on-the-ground follow-up to a study of Ecclesiastes earlier this year. However, I do quibble with her using "Ecclesiastes" as shorthand for "life can stink," because having studied it so much recently, I don't think that does justice to the good news in Ecclesiastes. I also think some of her chapters lost focus, but this could simply be the result of a more meditative writing style than I prefer.
This was exactly I needed for my temptation patterns and workaholic attitudes--and as a great feet-on-the-ground follow-up to a study of Ecclesiastes earlier this year. However, I do quibble with her using "Ecclesiastes" as shorthand for "life can stink," because having studied it so much recently, I don't think that does justice to the good news in Ecclesiastes. I also think some of her chapters lost focus, but this could simply be the result of a more meditative writing style than I prefer.
August 26, 2025
This book will simultaneously nourish your soul AND kick you in the pants.
December 12, 2025
LOVED this book. Made me laugh in sympathy and also convicted me in ways. Would recommend.
March 29, 2025
Solid theologically and good truths but writing was kinda boring. I wish it had dug deeper into Ecclesiastes since that was the premise of the book.
September 9, 2025
Snippets>>>>
First and foremost, then, Ecclesiastes is worthy of our attention because it is the living and active Word of God, able to pierce our hearts and change our understanding. Through the Spirits power, it daily transforms us, turning us away from useless things and giving us life in the way of the Lord (Ps.119:37).
He knew the only way to true joy, and He lived it out in front of us. He lived out what it means to fully delight in God while being faithful in the vanity that is this world.
As Michael Reeves observes rightly in his excellent book Rejoice and Tremble, "The fear of the Lord is the only fear that imparts strength. This is an especially vital truth for any who are called to some form of leadership (like mothers), for the strength this fear gives is— uniquely—a humble strength.
Those who fear God are simultaneously humbled and strengthened before his beauty and magnificence." This fear is not a cowering fear, but a rightly-ordered response of love to the revelation of an eternal, all-powerful Deity. There is truly no way to live rightly in the world God has made apart from this fear of God.
One of the best dictionaries in the English language, Webster's 1828, lists out the following definitions of the word "vanity":
1. Emptiness; want of substance to satisfy desire; uncertainty; inanity.
2. Fruitless desire or endeavor.
3. Trifling labor that produces no good.
4. Emptiness; untruth
5. Empty pleasure; vain pursuit; idle show; unsubstantial enjoyment.
6. Ostentation; arrogance.
7. Inflation of mind upon slight grounds; empty pride, inspired by an overweening conceit of ones personal attainments or decorations...
We must daily work to feed our souls on the steadying truth of the Word. Yet motherhood is like a program custom-designed by God to rescue us from our own myopia. It has a way of clearing away the fog of self-deception we so often carry around with us and helping us learn the same lessons about ourselves and about the mercy of God over and over in ever deepening ways that evidence themselves in the dust and grit of the road were walking.
John Cotton, "What a stimulus to seek after the true and full knowledge of Christ is the realized conviction of the utter vanity of all things else without Him."
The reality is, I'm just as much a sinner in desperate need of grace on the animal balloon Sundays, but I remember it better on the hard Sundays.
The part I tend to forget about is "to the glory of God. Too often, I do the dishes because I like a tidy home and seeing them sitting there is driving me crazy.
Dane Ortlund points out, "Jesus does not contrast those who clearly reject God's will with those who submit themselves to God's will. Rather, he contrasts those who obey God for the sake of being seen by others with those who obey God for the sake of love for him."' Later, he writes, "Mechanized obedience' is the problem. Why? Because dutifully resolute obedience so naturally prevents our seeing the need for the cross."
God has designed the utter dependency of small children, the perpetually divided attention, and the variety of unanticipated but pressing claims on our energy…to reveal the sins of our hearts.
we all naturally choose to believe our own narrative, to decide who we are, why we are here, what is important in life.
Right here we see the meeting of Ecclesiastes and the gospel because, at the end of the day, the dishes themselves and whether they're clean or dirty don't matter at all. But those dishes in the hands of God can be instruments used to reveal sin in my life, to sanctify me in the image of Christ, and to bear lasting fruit for eternity in my soul.
Your doing of the dishes to the glory of God, mama, or your long-suffering responses to that which keeps you from doing them, is building toward something of lasting worth.
Hudson Taylor, wrote:
It doesn't matter, really, how great the pressure is... it only matters where the pressure lies. See that it never comes between you and the Lord - then, the greater the pressure, the more it presses you to His breast.
The work of motherhood does not redeem us, and we do not somehow magically become better Christians because of the work of keeping a home, just like the man born blind wasn't actually healed by the mud itself. Jesus simply used that mud as a vehicle to accomplish His supernatural work of healing. He is healing us, restoring us every day of our lives and just like with this blind man, He uses ordinary means to do it.
Thomas Watson wrote once, "Better is that sin which humbles me, than that duty which makes me proud."
Our homes really are a mission field, as we raise small humans in the knowledge and admonition of the Lord, and our dedicated work and faithfulness here in this sphere is no less important than preachers of the gospel as we work in each moment of the day to give our children eyes to see God's good news as it really is.
The beauty and glory of the message that Christ has redeemed sinners is so far beyond our frail conceptions of mercy and love and justice that we must continue to learn it each and every day of our lives here on earth until we walk face to face with this wondrous God through eternity.
We have been entrusted with the souls of future men and women who will live into eternity and we have a handful of years with them to give them a context for these staggering truths. In our homes they can learn frameworks for God's grace and love, or become disillusioned with realities that seem to be empty of truth. In our home they can find the Bible to answer every doubt of their minds and every need of their longing hearts, or they can come to think it trite and overbearing. 2 Cor 4:7-12
Jesus sets the pattern for all our sacrifices as mothers: the enormous ones and the tiny ones. He who was humiliated from the heights of eternal bliss to death on a cross; He also grabbed a towel and washed the disciples' mucky feet before dinner. Of all people, Jesus sees what sometimes feels like the humiliation of our lives and He is with us in every self-giving, self-draining moment. He not only knows, but He has power to carry us through, to refine and to beautify us through these trials and to bring us into His presence at the end of all time.
When our children are surrendered in obedience to God rather than clung to and forced into molds of our own making, our moments can bear fruit for eternity. Daily faithfulness is our responsibility. The fruit that comes is up to the Lord. This is where the "rubber" of Ecclesiastes meets the "road" of the gospel. God will indeed "bring every deed into judgement, whether good or evil. We not only serve a God to be feared, but a God who will one day judge all mankind.
when our gaze is fixed on Christ and on Him above all, we see that He alone radiates all the patience and grace and hope we lack.
God was not subservient to my dreams of usefulness, but rather, faithful to reach the unreached parts of my heart that my plan
would have exempted.
…God isn't primarily looking to hire us for a job to which we might be well suited. Rather, He places us in positions that we know will make us most dependent on His grace and fit us best for eternity.
He puts us not in the places we believe we might thrive or accomplish the most, but in the places He desires us to grow and bear fruit for Him. As Charles Spurgeon once wrote, "If any position had been better for you than the one you occupy, divine providence would have put you there."
“Christian, God has appointed you to be his missionary right where you are. There is no one better suited to the task. "Go home to your friends, your family, your neighbors, your colleagues, and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you." Tim Challies
"Holiness, not safety, is the goal of our callings” Lilias Trotter
Rachel Jankovic writes, "Christ's life given up for others is the centerpiece of our faith. Our life given up for others is the centerpiece of our faithfulness. The glory is that in both cases, death is not the end." What He is building, right now, with our hearts and souls was planned from eternity past and us something to bring eternal souls into this world and raise them up into adults.
Though you can't seem to get a thing done, something is being done in you... You are a garden of God's tending, and through motherhood, He's cultivating the fruit of your character.
“No trial, no disease or illness, no accident or injury reaches us apart from God's permission... He has chosen not to heal me, but to hold me. The more intense the pain, the closer His embrace.” Joni Tada
As Paul reminded us, this is not merely a physical war, but also a spiritual one. If this task was easier, we might be more tempted to rely on our own strength, to think somehow at the end of the day that we could power through on our own. As it is, we come to face our own insufficiency and need, and this is a deep mercy.
As believers, we defeat time not by following ten principles of entrepreneurs or seven successful tips of housewives to keep a clean home (though these might be helpful at times) but by obeying the Lord of time. The Lord who created time-and us within it-knows how to order His world.
Peter Craigie, commenting on this quick change of events writes, "The reverence shown now was in response to the phenomena accompanying God's revelation, and though it was not thereby any less genuine, it was nevertheless regrettable that the people could not show the same reverence in the more mundane affairs of daily life."
We are actually laboring under a curse, and we feel this in a multitude of ways each day.
tests are primarily a mercy to us, opening a window on our hearts, reminding us of both our need and His offer of "grace to help and mercy in time of need."
As Michael Reeves wrote in his book God Shines Forth, If we are not captured specifically by the glory of God in Christ and propelled outward in happy proclamation of the one who has freely given himself to us, then it will be no surprise when our message quickly has little to do with him.
If it is not him we are enjoying, it will not be him we convey to others. Even unwittingly, we may become ministers of another gospel (Gal. 1:7).29
There are a million simple, inexpensive, ordinary ways curated by your own experience, skill set, personality, and geography to cultivate wonder, delight, and contentment in the life God has given you.
Restraint and abandon are both necessary in their own time and place, for we serve a God who loves both extravagance and order.
We can all too easily confuse the gifts and the Giver of all good gifts.
The very things we enjoy in this life should help us understand and exult more deeply in the character of our God.
It is not that God somehow mimics the things of this life-it's that they were designed to showcase and imitate facets of His character and, in so doing, to put them on display for our slow minds and distracted moments. A million wonderful, good, wholesome things in this life shout for us to see the excellencies of our King. They're like magnifying glasses for our weak eyes to help us better understand what it means that our God is creative and kind and merciful and mighty.
We need physical realities to help our spiritual eyes to see properly. That's why, for instance, God has given us the Lord's Supper to sustain our souls in the reality of Christ and His death and resurrection on our behalf.
As we nourish bellies, the Lord Himself fills our souls and as we lay down our time for yet another sink of dishes, our kind Father multiplies the efforts of our soapy hands to build something lasting in us and in the lives of our families. As we sacrifice in the daily work of motherhood, we are becoming living sacrifices ourselves, relying on Christ, the ultimate Sacrifice, for the grace to be grace-full and not full of our own strivings or the memories of our own failures.
First and foremost, then, Ecclesiastes is worthy of our attention because it is the living and active Word of God, able to pierce our hearts and change our understanding. Through the Spirits power, it daily transforms us, turning us away from useless things and giving us life in the way of the Lord (Ps.119:37).
He knew the only way to true joy, and He lived it out in front of us. He lived out what it means to fully delight in God while being faithful in the vanity that is this world.
As Michael Reeves observes rightly in his excellent book Rejoice and Tremble, "The fear of the Lord is the only fear that imparts strength. This is an especially vital truth for any who are called to some form of leadership (like mothers), for the strength this fear gives is— uniquely—a humble strength.
Those who fear God are simultaneously humbled and strengthened before his beauty and magnificence." This fear is not a cowering fear, but a rightly-ordered response of love to the revelation of an eternal, all-powerful Deity. There is truly no way to live rightly in the world God has made apart from this fear of God.
One of the best dictionaries in the English language, Webster's 1828, lists out the following definitions of the word "vanity":
1. Emptiness; want of substance to satisfy desire; uncertainty; inanity.
2. Fruitless desire or endeavor.
3. Trifling labor that produces no good.
4. Emptiness; untruth
5. Empty pleasure; vain pursuit; idle show; unsubstantial enjoyment.
6. Ostentation; arrogance.
7. Inflation of mind upon slight grounds; empty pride, inspired by an overweening conceit of ones personal attainments or decorations...
We must daily work to feed our souls on the steadying truth of the Word. Yet motherhood is like a program custom-designed by God to rescue us from our own myopia. It has a way of clearing away the fog of self-deception we so often carry around with us and helping us learn the same lessons about ourselves and about the mercy of God over and over in ever deepening ways that evidence themselves in the dust and grit of the road were walking.
John Cotton, "What a stimulus to seek after the true and full knowledge of Christ is the realized conviction of the utter vanity of all things else without Him."
The reality is, I'm just as much a sinner in desperate need of grace on the animal balloon Sundays, but I remember it better on the hard Sundays.
The part I tend to forget about is "to the glory of God. Too often, I do the dishes because I like a tidy home and seeing them sitting there is driving me crazy.
Dane Ortlund points out, "Jesus does not contrast those who clearly reject God's will with those who submit themselves to God's will. Rather, he contrasts those who obey God for the sake of being seen by others with those who obey God for the sake of love for him."' Later, he writes, "Mechanized obedience' is the problem. Why? Because dutifully resolute obedience so naturally prevents our seeing the need for the cross."
God has designed the utter dependency of small children, the perpetually divided attention, and the variety of unanticipated but pressing claims on our energy…to reveal the sins of our hearts.
we all naturally choose to believe our own narrative, to decide who we are, why we are here, what is important in life.
Right here we see the meeting of Ecclesiastes and the gospel because, at the end of the day, the dishes themselves and whether they're clean or dirty don't matter at all. But those dishes in the hands of God can be instruments used to reveal sin in my life, to sanctify me in the image of Christ, and to bear lasting fruit for eternity in my soul.
Your doing of the dishes to the glory of God, mama, or your long-suffering responses to that which keeps you from doing them, is building toward something of lasting worth.
Hudson Taylor, wrote:
It doesn't matter, really, how great the pressure is... it only matters where the pressure lies. See that it never comes between you and the Lord - then, the greater the pressure, the more it presses you to His breast.
The work of motherhood does not redeem us, and we do not somehow magically become better Christians because of the work of keeping a home, just like the man born blind wasn't actually healed by the mud itself. Jesus simply used that mud as a vehicle to accomplish His supernatural work of healing. He is healing us, restoring us every day of our lives and just like with this blind man, He uses ordinary means to do it.
Thomas Watson wrote once, "Better is that sin which humbles me, than that duty which makes me proud."
Our homes really are a mission field, as we raise small humans in the knowledge and admonition of the Lord, and our dedicated work and faithfulness here in this sphere is no less important than preachers of the gospel as we work in each moment of the day to give our children eyes to see God's good news as it really is.
The beauty and glory of the message that Christ has redeemed sinners is so far beyond our frail conceptions of mercy and love and justice that we must continue to learn it each and every day of our lives here on earth until we walk face to face with this wondrous God through eternity.
We have been entrusted with the souls of future men and women who will live into eternity and we have a handful of years with them to give them a context for these staggering truths. In our homes they can learn frameworks for God's grace and love, or become disillusioned with realities that seem to be empty of truth. In our home they can find the Bible to answer every doubt of their minds and every need of their longing hearts, or they can come to think it trite and overbearing. 2 Cor 4:7-12
Jesus sets the pattern for all our sacrifices as mothers: the enormous ones and the tiny ones. He who was humiliated from the heights of eternal bliss to death on a cross; He also grabbed a towel and washed the disciples' mucky feet before dinner. Of all people, Jesus sees what sometimes feels like the humiliation of our lives and He is with us in every self-giving, self-draining moment. He not only knows, but He has power to carry us through, to refine and to beautify us through these trials and to bring us into His presence at the end of all time.
When our children are surrendered in obedience to God rather than clung to and forced into molds of our own making, our moments can bear fruit for eternity. Daily faithfulness is our responsibility. The fruit that comes is up to the Lord. This is where the "rubber" of Ecclesiastes meets the "road" of the gospel. God will indeed "bring every deed into judgement, whether good or evil. We not only serve a God to be feared, but a God who will one day judge all mankind.
when our gaze is fixed on Christ and on Him above all, we see that He alone radiates all the patience and grace and hope we lack.
God was not subservient to my dreams of usefulness, but rather, faithful to reach the unreached parts of my heart that my plan
would have exempted.
…God isn't primarily looking to hire us for a job to which we might be well suited. Rather, He places us in positions that we know will make us most dependent on His grace and fit us best for eternity.
He puts us not in the places we believe we might thrive or accomplish the most, but in the places He desires us to grow and bear fruit for Him. As Charles Spurgeon once wrote, "If any position had been better for you than the one you occupy, divine providence would have put you there."
“Christian, God has appointed you to be his missionary right where you are. There is no one better suited to the task. "Go home to your friends, your family, your neighbors, your colleagues, and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you." Tim Challies
"Holiness, not safety, is the goal of our callings” Lilias Trotter
Rachel Jankovic writes, "Christ's life given up for others is the centerpiece of our faith. Our life given up for others is the centerpiece of our faithfulness. The glory is that in both cases, death is not the end." What He is building, right now, with our hearts and souls was planned from eternity past and us something to bring eternal souls into this world and raise them up into adults.
Though you can't seem to get a thing done, something is being done in you... You are a garden of God's tending, and through motherhood, He's cultivating the fruit of your character.
“No trial, no disease or illness, no accident or injury reaches us apart from God's permission... He has chosen not to heal me, but to hold me. The more intense the pain, the closer His embrace.” Joni Tada
As Paul reminded us, this is not merely a physical war, but also a spiritual one. If this task was easier, we might be more tempted to rely on our own strength, to think somehow at the end of the day that we could power through on our own. As it is, we come to face our own insufficiency and need, and this is a deep mercy.
As believers, we defeat time not by following ten principles of entrepreneurs or seven successful tips of housewives to keep a clean home (though these might be helpful at times) but by obeying the Lord of time. The Lord who created time-and us within it-knows how to order His world.
Peter Craigie, commenting on this quick change of events writes, "The reverence shown now was in response to the phenomena accompanying God's revelation, and though it was not thereby any less genuine, it was nevertheless regrettable that the people could not show the same reverence in the more mundane affairs of daily life."
We are actually laboring under a curse, and we feel this in a multitude of ways each day.
tests are primarily a mercy to us, opening a window on our hearts, reminding us of both our need and His offer of "grace to help and mercy in time of need."
As Michael Reeves wrote in his book God Shines Forth, If we are not captured specifically by the glory of God in Christ and propelled outward in happy proclamation of the one who has freely given himself to us, then it will be no surprise when our message quickly has little to do with him.
If it is not him we are enjoying, it will not be him we convey to others. Even unwittingly, we may become ministers of another gospel (Gal. 1:7).29
There are a million simple, inexpensive, ordinary ways curated by your own experience, skill set, personality, and geography to cultivate wonder, delight, and contentment in the life God has given you.
Restraint and abandon are both necessary in their own time and place, for we serve a God who loves both extravagance and order.
We can all too easily confuse the gifts and the Giver of all good gifts.
The very things we enjoy in this life should help us understand and exult more deeply in the character of our God.
It is not that God somehow mimics the things of this life-it's that they were designed to showcase and imitate facets of His character and, in so doing, to put them on display for our slow minds and distracted moments. A million wonderful, good, wholesome things in this life shout for us to see the excellencies of our King. They're like magnifying glasses for our weak eyes to help us better understand what it means that our God is creative and kind and merciful and mighty.
We need physical realities to help our spiritual eyes to see properly. That's why, for instance, God has given us the Lord's Supper to sustain our souls in the reality of Christ and His death and resurrection on our behalf.
As we nourish bellies, the Lord Himself fills our souls and as we lay down our time for yet another sink of dishes, our kind Father multiplies the efforts of our soapy hands to build something lasting in us and in the lives of our families. As we sacrifice in the daily work of motherhood, we are becoming living sacrifices ourselves, relying on Christ, the ultimate Sacrifice, for the grace to be grace-full and not full of our own strivings or the memories of our own failures.
July 14, 2025
This book had some great nuggets, but was overall a little underwhelming. It didn’t get as deeply into Ecclesiastes as I expected/wanted it to, and several of the chapters felt a little half-baked, like they didn’t need to be their own chapter.
June 3, 2025
This is the most hopeful book on mothering I have read to date—which is saying a lot, because it feels like I have read them all. Also great news—it’s o my 104 pages which feels so much more manageable than some books on motherhood.
In this book, Simona Gorton accurately captures the wonderful highs and sundry lows of motherhood with impeccable relatability (like, is she in my home right now or…?!?), actual humor, and real gospel hope for today and every tomorrow. Gorton writes with a pen that is theologically robust while maintaining poetic beauty and elementary understanding—it is truly beautiful and enjoyable to read. “The greatest realities of the universe are shown to be true in our very weakness. We don’t like weakness, need, or insufficiency. Yet we experience these realities every day…if we are not running to the throne, we are drawing from the dry wells of our own adequacy. The sooner we realize that, the sooner joy can germinate in the soil of our days, and grow strong vines up the trellis of our time, and bear the fruit of the Spirit to be enjoyed by all those around us” (43).
Simona heralds the monotonous work of (and the suffering of) a mother in a God-honoring and biblical way—not elevating it to a place that teeters on idolatry nor depreciate it by claiming it’s just an ordinary job. She asks, “Do we fail to recognize the inherent goodness of work as God sees it? Do we devalue the unglamorous and perhaps distasteful tasks of each day and lose their momentous, eternal significance (90)?
She posits that motherhood’s real difficulty and pain is designed by God as an abundant grace in a mother’s life in order that she would throw herself on the all sustaining person of Christ; that it is a grace that God would even bring its unpleasantness in our lives to reveal the sin we didn’t know was already there. “Motherhood is like a program custom-designed by God to rescue us from our own myopia” (17). If you’re willing and ready to admit your increasing weakness, to do the difficult heart work of seeing what sins truly lurk in the shadows, and are ready to run to Jesus for sweet hope and healing—give this book a read.
“Our very weaknesses, as mothers can be, that which God uses the most powerfully to draw our children’s eyes to the hope that will never disappoint… that what God is accomplishing in us is not just about us, but about what he purposes to do through us” (44-45).
*Discussion questions for each chapter in the back of the book
*Lots of underlining and margin-scrawling in this book
*A great gift for a mom with young kids (babies and toddlers), but also SUPER beneficial for moms who have already entered the schooling years—Simona shows how you haven’t totally blown it (even when it feels like you have)
*This is the needed theology that women in general need to have for the hard, good, prolonged, God-ordained suffering (ie motherhood) that comes to their lives by his command
In this book, Simona Gorton accurately captures the wonderful highs and sundry lows of motherhood with impeccable relatability (like, is she in my home right now or…?!?), actual humor, and real gospel hope for today and every tomorrow. Gorton writes with a pen that is theologically robust while maintaining poetic beauty and elementary understanding—it is truly beautiful and enjoyable to read. “The greatest realities of the universe are shown to be true in our very weakness. We don’t like weakness, need, or insufficiency. Yet we experience these realities every day…if we are not running to the throne, we are drawing from the dry wells of our own adequacy. The sooner we realize that, the sooner joy can germinate in the soil of our days, and grow strong vines up the trellis of our time, and bear the fruit of the Spirit to be enjoyed by all those around us” (43).
Simona heralds the monotonous work of (and the suffering of) a mother in a God-honoring and biblical way—not elevating it to a place that teeters on idolatry nor depreciate it by claiming it’s just an ordinary job. She asks, “Do we fail to recognize the inherent goodness of work as God sees it? Do we devalue the unglamorous and perhaps distasteful tasks of each day and lose their momentous, eternal significance (90)?
She posits that motherhood’s real difficulty and pain is designed by God as an abundant grace in a mother’s life in order that she would throw herself on the all sustaining person of Christ; that it is a grace that God would even bring its unpleasantness in our lives to reveal the sin we didn’t know was already there. “Motherhood is like a program custom-designed by God to rescue us from our own myopia” (17). If you’re willing and ready to admit your increasing weakness, to do the difficult heart work of seeing what sins truly lurk in the shadows, and are ready to run to Jesus for sweet hope and healing—give this book a read.
“Our very weaknesses, as mothers can be, that which God uses the most powerfully to draw our children’s eyes to the hope that will never disappoint… that what God is accomplishing in us is not just about us, but about what he purposes to do through us” (44-45).
*Discussion questions for each chapter in the back of the book
*Lots of underlining and margin-scrawling in this book
*A great gift for a mom with young kids (babies and toddlers), but also SUPER beneficial for moms who have already entered the schooling years—Simona shows how you haven’t totally blown it (even when it feels like you have)
*This is the needed theology that women in general need to have for the hard, good, prolonged, God-ordained suffering (ie motherhood) that comes to their lives by his command
April 4, 2025
A bitter-sweet and humbling reminder of the gravity of the call to Motherhood: through suffering, joy, and everything between. This book really helps you view Ecclesiastes in a personal light.
March 1, 2025
In a world that says it’s all about “ME ME ME”, Simona’s book reminds mothers that our purpose is not to live for ourselves, but to live each day and complete each task for the glory of God, which then enables us to better serve our families.
“Both of these things, the Grand Canyon and motherhood, are works of the Lord, and yet one of them brings out our awe and wonder and the other often brings out grumbling.”
Mothers can look to Christ and Scripture to know how we ought to care for our little ones, and then we must run to him when we feel discouraged. We will give in to sinful thoughts and often won’t measure up to our expectations. We are not enough, but Christ is.
Simona also urges us to savor and thank God for the beautiful gift that is motherhood. This calling is a part of a much bigger story of grace and redemption.
“No golden, frosty winter morning or breathless, rosy-cheeked child comes to us from anywhere except His hand. He is the One who thought up these things and He is the One to whom our thoughts should turn in every painful and joyful and ordinary moment. The very things we enjoy in this life should help us understand and exult more deeply in the character of our God.”
“Both of these things, the Grand Canyon and motherhood, are works of the Lord, and yet one of them brings out our awe and wonder and the other often brings out grumbling.”
Mothers can look to Christ and Scripture to know how we ought to care for our little ones, and then we must run to him when we feel discouraged. We will give in to sinful thoughts and often won’t measure up to our expectations. We are not enough, but Christ is.
Simona also urges us to savor and thank God for the beautiful gift that is motherhood. This calling is a part of a much bigger story of grace and redemption.
“No golden, frosty winter morning or breathless, rosy-cheeked child comes to us from anywhere except His hand. He is the One who thought up these things and He is the One to whom our thoughts should turn in every painful and joyful and ordinary moment. The very things we enjoy in this life should help us understand and exult more deeply in the character of our God.”
February 26, 2025
I kept reading despite the first couple chapters, which was a lot of what I’ve already read in other books. But the second half of the book was definitely more winsome than the former. I especially liked her chapters on motherhood as suffering (chapter 6) and the apologetic of motherhood (chapter 8) in which I highlighted a lot! And the last chapter was the perfect ending for a book pointing to the hope, glory, and purpose we have in the mundaneness of everyday life as mothers.
June 6, 2025
I randomly ordered this book one day. SO good and humbling. I have struggled over the last 5 years after leaving my career to find purpose and the “did I do enough today”. This book helped remind me why I chose to step away from the corporate world and be with my family.
It is not just a book about parenting—it’s a rallying cry for mothers to remember their eternal purpose in the everyday.
This book shines in its ability to reframe what we, as women, and the world often deems “insignificant” work. Gorton reminds us that no task done in Christ is ever wasted. With biblical clarity, she lifts the veil on the lie of futility and invites us to see our work in light of God’s larger redemptive story. She doesn’t sugarcoat the sacrifice, but she also doesn’t leave us without hope. Each chapter acts like a breath of fresh gospel air.
What stood out most to me was the way Gorton connected motherhood to spiritual formation—not just for the child, but for the mother. Her insights challenge modern assumptions about identity, purpose, and value, especially in a culture that often undermines or oversimplifies the role of a mother.
This book is for the mother who feels invisible, exhausted, or unsure whether her labor matters. It’s for the woman who wants her theology to shape her motherhood—not sentimentality or shame. It’s also for any believer who wants to better understand how the ordinary becomes is weighty yet accessible, deeply rooted in Scripture, and overflowing with grace. I’ll be returning to it again—and recommending it widely.
It is not just a book about parenting—it’s a rallying cry for mothers to remember their eternal purpose in the everyday.
This book shines in its ability to reframe what we, as women, and the world often deems “insignificant” work. Gorton reminds us that no task done in Christ is ever wasted. With biblical clarity, she lifts the veil on the lie of futility and invites us to see our work in light of God’s larger redemptive story. She doesn’t sugarcoat the sacrifice, but she also doesn’t leave us without hope. Each chapter acts like a breath of fresh gospel air.
What stood out most to me was the way Gorton connected motherhood to spiritual formation—not just for the child, but for the mother. Her insights challenge modern assumptions about identity, purpose, and value, especially in a culture that often undermines or oversimplifies the role of a mother.
This book is for the mother who feels invisible, exhausted, or unsure whether her labor matters. It’s for the woman who wants her theology to shape her motherhood—not sentimentality or shame. It’s also for any believer who wants to better understand how the ordinary becomes is weighty yet accessible, deeply rooted in Scripture, and overflowing with grace. I’ll be returning to it again—and recommending it widely.
January 20, 2025
What a delight to read this book! Packed with Scripture and great quotes, this book is bursting with truths about the awesome responsibility and inexplicable wonder that God has gifted us in motherhood. The whole book points us back to the satisfaction we have in Christ, and gives colorful reminders of all that God intends for us as we raise our children. It gently prods us to realize that the life of a mother is one that unveils our own sin, but is a gift God uses to grow us and teach us a sweeter dependence on him. And oh, how humbling and sustaining is the fuel of remembering that we are a part of God's astounding plan to spread his glory and advance his kingdom, even in the small moments of mothering our children.
Thank you, Simona, for sharing with us the beauty of what God is teaching you!
Thank you, Simona, for sharing with us the beauty of what God is teaching you!
December 29, 2025
In Mothering Against Futility, Simona Gorton offers a thoughtful reflection on balancing meaning and mundanity through the fear of the Lord.
This short, accessible book applies the gospel to motherhood. Drawing on the wisdom of Ecclesiastes, Gorton extends grace to the everyday realities of raising young children.
Hope for Heavy Hearts
I was especially moved by her reflection on Jesus healing the man born blind with ordinary, dirty, messy mud. This scene beautifully illustrates how God sanctifies and heals us, opening our eyes to His grace through humble means.
Mothering Against Futility offers hope to weary mothers. This book invites moms to bring their burdens to Jesus and find rest and rejuvenation in His arms.
I received a media copy of Mothering Against Futility and this is my honest review. @diveindigdeep
This short, accessible book applies the gospel to motherhood. Drawing on the wisdom of Ecclesiastes, Gorton extends grace to the everyday realities of raising young children.
Hope for Heavy Hearts
I was especially moved by her reflection on Jesus healing the man born blind with ordinary, dirty, messy mud. This scene beautifully illustrates how God sanctifies and heals us, opening our eyes to His grace through humble means.
Mothering Against Futility offers hope to weary mothers. This book invites moms to bring their burdens to Jesus and find rest and rejuvenation in His arms.
I received a media copy of Mothering Against Futility and this is my honest review. @diveindigdeep
August 9, 2025
I liked the content of this book quite a bit. Simona Gorton does a good job of laying out the value of motherhood and serving our families while not making it seem like a total walk in the park. The part that has stuck with me the most as actually from a hymn she quoted, that God is "too wise to be mistaken, too good to be unkind."
It didn't quite deliver on the premise of being based on the book of Ecclesiastes as fully as I wanted it to, and I think the writing could have been livened up a bit more (reading this back-to-back with a Ruth Chou Simons book made me realize that there was a difference in polish/presentation). But it is still a thoughtful piece on mothering - I would recommend it.
It didn't quite deliver on the premise of being based on the book of Ecclesiastes as fully as I wanted it to, and I think the writing could have been livened up a bit more (reading this back-to-back with a Ruth Chou Simons book made me realize that there was a difference in polish/presentation). But it is still a thoughtful piece on mothering - I would recommend it.
July 19, 2025
Perhaps I'm biased by the fact that the author attends the same church as me, and by the fact that I could actually picture the many vignettes, stories, (and disasters!) of the Gorton household, but I found this book to be lots of fun! And Simona does an excellent job of showing how God's Truth can be applied to the many frustrations and disappointments and joys of mothering. She acknowledges the craziness of parenting while also showing that God's Word guides us in how we are to think about this blessed task.
May 6, 2025
Encouraging book for mothers, good reminders of how the calling of motherhood and the daily work we do is where God has us and we should do the work faithfully, humbly, and with full reliance on Him. While it is easy to complain about the mundane tasks of motherhood we should view these tasks as ways to serve God and our family joyfully.
August 11, 2025
This book was short, humorous, and relatable. It was filled with beautiful and truth-filled words, but I found myself wishing I could have followed the authors train of thought/grasped the main points/seen the practical applications more clearly. I read it twice and think I did get more out of it the second time. 3.5
July 8, 2025
Encouraging read, especially for young moms. Our day to day lives can seem so unimportant, but we can honor God by serving those with care the way Christ did. Don't miss the study guide questions and scripture readings in the back. There are some great questions to meditate.
June 11, 2025
Surprisingly good! I have a strange feeling of watching the lord of the rings while reading it..
July 24, 2025
Have your Bible with you if you read this. Scripture taken out of context and/or changed. It had some good points but had a lot of misleading thoughts. I would not recommend this book.
October 25, 2025
Short and powerful. This little book is encouraging and instructive. Don’t miss this one on motherhood.
December 20, 2025
This book is very practical. It had very helpful reminders that motherhood seems mundane, but God uses it to impact His kingdom.
June 28, 2025
This book is not just for mothers. I don't have kids of my own, but found it convicting. How easily do we give in to wanting things to be comfortable and easy, yet God often puts us in circumstances that are uncomfortable to reorient our focus on Him rather than our own selfish desires. Definitely recommend, even if you're not a mom, you will gain encouragement from this book.
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