After reading the interview and book review of Nightbitch (March), I felt appalled that Anabaptists would endorse a book and movie that portrays motherhood (and therefore, children) as something that drives us to the edge of insanity. This is not only a false supposition that is degrading to children, but it also offers no hope to the upcoming generation of mothers.  

The Bible has many things to say about children and motherhood, but it’s clear that children are a gift from God (Psalm 127:3) and that God gives good gifts to us (James 1:17). Motherhood is a job God gives us (Proverbs 22:6), and he gives us the power to do it well (2 Corinthians 12:9).  

Any time we allow our fallible human hearts to guide us instead of the Word of God, we are headed for trouble. Is being a stay-at-home mom hard? Absolutely. Is it holy work? Without a doubt. As we train someone else in the ways of God, we are doing the work as unto him, which makes it holy. When the author speaks of being a stay-at-home mom and says “what a mean trick to call such things holy or selfless. How evil to praise women for giving up each and every dream,” it makes me almost literally sick. This, my fellow mothers, is what God has called us to! We are called to selflessly do God’s holy work (Matthew 16:24). And perhaps, if we have to give up “each and every dream” as a mom, we had better start changing our dreams. 

Emily Bucher, Manheim, Pa.

The quoted phrases from Nightbitch are the thoughts of the novel’s main character as she reflects on her childhood and the price her mother and earlier generations of women paid for sacrificing their entire selves for the community. — Editor

I grew up Mennonite in Cheraw, Colo. My parents made sure we were aware of the bigger Mennonite world. It wasn’t until I moved to Lancaster County, Pa., that I realized my experience of being Mennonite was not the same as the experience of many of those around me. I was a different kind of Mennonite. Working with Mennonite Central Committee put me in touch with many other kinds. I remember the eye-opening experience of going to a gathering with missionary folks for whom verenike and zwieback were beloved Mennonite fare that I had never heard of. I’ve been to Mennonite churches in Africa and Asia where the identifier is the same but most everything else is different.

I share all this to say that although I re­spect Rachel Yoder’s [author of Nightbitch] experience of being Mennonite, her non-nuanced use of the term Mennonite does a disservice to the diversity of who we are and what we experience. Being Mennonite is not a cultural monolith and can’t be stereotyped. There is good, bad, new, old, ugly and extremely beautiful in the variety that is us.

Thank you for the encouraging, welcoming articles in the March issue. I need and appreciate the good words.

Betsy Headrick McCrae, Lititz, Pa.