Adding some Mother Culture to your daily rhythm to avoid hitting crisis point.
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You may have heard this phrase before, especially in the home school mum world, or this may be the first time you have ever heard of it. Either way, if you are a mother, you should definitely be learning about mother culture.
So, what is mother culture?
Mother culture refers to the filling up of a mother’s soul, so that she can pour out to her family from a place of fullness, not from a place of an emptiness, tiredness, and overwhelm!
In order for mother culture to truly help you out in this crazy busy stage of life, it needs to be simple and easily achievable so that mother culture itself is not just another thing that may tip you over the edge!
Mother culture is, in part, us remembering to be a daughter of God before we are a mother. Knowing more fully who we are, can help us mother our children to the best of our ability.
What does the bible say?
The phrase “mother culture” is not used in the bible at all, but Jesus himself was constantly surrounded by noisy, messy, arguing people (a lot like us mammas) so let’s see how he filled up his soul…
Matthew 14:23 says “After He had sent the crowds away, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray; and when it was evening, He was there alone.”
Mark 6:46 says “After bidding them farewell, He left for the mountain to pray.”
Mark 1:35 says “In the early morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house, and went away to a secluded place, and was praying there.”
Lastly, Luke 5:16 tells us “But Jesus Himself would often slip away to the wilderness and pray.”
Throughout scripture there are many examples of Jesus slipping away, sometimes to be followed straight away by more people! Does this sound familiar?!
So, the clear example we can take from this is that we need to often slip away to pray. If Jesus did it, we can too! But if we have little children, we obviously can’t leave the house for this whenever we fancy…

So how do we make this happen?
I am a big fan of the early morning. When I say early, I mean very early. I’m often up by 5am but have been known to get up at 4am. We have trained our kids to stay quiet in bedrooms (except for the toilet) until 7am. I love this time to read the bible, pray, journal, and read other books. I would highly recommend getting up a while before kids if at all possible. This doesn’t happen naturally. Pray that God will help you with it, set an alarm, go to bed a little earlier, and try again each morning! This is one great way to get in some mother culture time.
I have heard of many home-schooling mammas who have a quiet hour after lunch each day. This sometimes works for us, but I am not consistent enough with this rule. The idea is each child must find something quiet to play/read/colour while you get some time to yourself. You could read a good book, listen to a podcast, write in a journal, knit or work on any other hobby.
Then usually each of us has at least a moment once the kids are asleep to carry on with any projects we have going or perhaps this is time spent with the hubby?
However your time to yourself comes, I would hugely encourage you to make the most of it. Turn off screens, learn a new hobby, read a book, even light a candle! Do the things that help you remember you are a daughter of God before you are a mother! There is so much strength in this!
Smaller moments count too…
Although these longer times to yourself are fantastic and great anchors for the day, they may get squeezed out or interrupted so it is important to appreciate the smaller 30 second mother culture moments too. Think about taking a deep breath as you step outside and all the kids run free, or that quiet moment where you actually listen to half a worship song without interruptions.
If we actively aim for these, our day could be filled with small windows of peace and quiet. Appreciate them, no matter how small they are.
Jesus desperately wants to fill our souls because he knows how hard it is to constantly be pouring out.
“Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:29-30)
As always, please know that I am praying for you in this tough season. I’m praying that God’s holy spirit fills you to overflowing as a blessing for you and your children today.
Great post!
Thanks so much for reading!
This is such a great and practical post! I wake up at 5 before my family too! I love that you trained your kids to stay quiet in their rooms until a certain time. I like the after lunch quiet time idea too. I will keep this in mind for when my toddler daughter gets older, so I can maintain this “mother culture” habit. Thanks!
Before kids awake is such a great moment of the day! Praying for you as you stay close to Jesus, even through the craziness of mothering.
This is such an important topic! Thanks for sharing your thoughts with us.
you’re very welcome! Thanks for reading!
Yes, I find that early mornings I crave quiet time. Also if I can take 5 min and revisiting what I learned or God laid on my heart from the morning before the crazy bedtime routine it helps me have enough entertain to get thru.
Absolutely agree! I love being awake before the crazy kids come and jump on me!