Motherhood is not all roses. No mother is perfect. But God made us, knows our flaws, and He made us mothers. He has entrusted our children to us... to love them, comfort them, laugh with them, correct them, encourage and help them, and to grow them in the Lord. Sometimes this feels like a tall order. Sometimes I feel like I fail miserably. But God is so faithful and merciful. And my kids are more gracious than I deserve. I am thankful.
Motherhood means cleaning up throw-up at 2:00 a.m. It means doing load number 5 of laundry today because the boys were being boys, and nothing stays clean for very long. It means reading the same book to my child that I've already read 50 times.... Just because he loves it. It means wearing holes through the knees of my jeans because all that my boys want is for me to be on the floor playing animals and superheroes with them. It means crawling into a blanket fort, a space much too small to be comfortable, because it is the coolest "top secret" place EVER! :) It means putting my child in time-out for the 10th time today because I want him to learn right from wrong. It means keeping my cool so I can lovingly explain, yet again, why he is in time-out. And it means being humble, asking forgiveness when I do it wrong. It means being okay with very little privacy as small fingers reach through the crack underneath the bathroom floor, and I hear, "Mom? Moooom....." even though they really have nothing to say. They just want to be near... Motherhood means laughing at the jokes my 6-year-old tries to create, even when they make absolutely no sense. It means getting off the phone, the iPad, the computer... to just be there. Sometimes it means being a referee between the siblings all day long. It means a messy kitchen and clothes as I try to let them help cook. It means snuggles and giggles just because.
It means many tears will be shed. Some for the times I know I fail. Some for the times I see my children fail.... And all I can do is let them.
Motherhood entails so very many things. In the end, this is my goal: To love them deeply, to share Jesus unceasingly.
Being a mother is a gift, not just an obligation. This world has begun to view it quite distortedly. Let's rise up together and be the mothers God has called us to be. Let us commit to putting away the business that can wait so that our children have mothers who are there for them.... so that our children know they are cherished and loved.
