Grace for Moms

Earlier this evening I read this amazing little article my beautiful friend, Laine Alves (www.everydaylaine.blogspot.com) posted on Facebook. It was one of those challenging evenings for me with the boys, so of course it came at perfect timing to get my heart in check. So I just had to share it with you (and save this moment to serve as a reminder for another sure-to-come rough day):

To the mom who's breastfeeding: Way to go! It really is an amazing gift to give your baby, for any amount of time that you can manage! You're a good mom.

To the mom who's formula feeding: Isn't science amazing? To think there was a time when a baby with a mother who couldn't produce enough would suffer, but now? Better living through chemistry! You're a good mom.

To the cloth diapering mom: Fluffy bums are the cutest, and so friendly on the bank account. You're a good mom.

To the disposable diapering mom: Wow, those things hold a lot, and it's excellent to not worry about leakage and laundry! You're a good mom.

To the mom who stays home: I can imagine it isn't easy doing what you do, but to spend those precious years with your babies must be amazing. You're a good mom.

To the mom who works: It's wonderful that you're sticking to your career, you're a positive role model for your children in so many ways, it's fantastic. You're a good mom.

To the mom who had to feed her kids from the drive thru all week because you're too worn out to cook or go grocery shopping: You're feeding your kids, and hey, I bet they aren't complaining! Sometimes sanity can indeed be found in a red box with a big yellow M on it. You're a good mom.

To the mom who gave her kids a home cooked breakfast lunch and dinner for the past week: Excellent! Good nutrition is important, and they're learning to enjoy healthy foods at an early age, a boon for the rest of their lives. You're a good mom.

To the mom with the kids who are sitting quietly and using their manners in the fancy restaurant: Kudos, it takes a lot to maintain order with children in a place where they can't run around. You're a good mom.

To the mom with the toddler having a meltdown in the cereal aisle: they always seem to pick the most embarrassing places to lose their minds don't they? We've all been through it. You're a good mom.

Let's be about encouraging one another as we try to be the best moms we can be. May the Lord help us each day to trust Him for the strength and guidance we need and to help us to view motherhood as a blessing, not an inconvenience.
Wow, right? What a reminder to encourage and love those beside us on this journey of motherhood. I've come to find that this season of life has been one that I've felt the most judgement from others and admittedly from my own little heart. It's such an ugly thing, it's filled with judgement and comparison, with pride and insecurity. I will do my best to put this ugliness behind me. To not allow it to reign, or even share more than a moment of my mind's attention. I choose to extend the same grace I'm in need of, while offering the same amount of confrontational love I'd expect and covet from those closest to me if they really did see my blind spot that I've been missing!



But here is what stopped me in my tracks tonight, what moved me to write... the last words of the last sentence came to me... Rewind back to the hours of five to eight o'clock this evening, I have to admit I was feeling pretty inconvenienced and not very blessed in those hours.

After laying them down, kissing their sweet heads and having a few unwinding hours to myself (leaving the housework behind, knowing I needed the rest)... I find myself in a quiet moment with my Lord, candle lit, I reach back and touch my shoulder. "Ew! What is that?" I feel a strange sticky, caked on feeling on my skin. "Oooooohhh!" I remembered holding Connor, while he was crying, with a sucker in hand... getting it all over me. In the moment, that was very inconvenient. We were in a crowd, he was crying & getting his nasty sucker all over me. But once I've gained perspective, had a moment to breath, that sticky substance on my shoulder is a reminder of how blessed I really am. Of the life I am surrounded by and celebrate!

Thank you Jesus for my sweet blessings, may I always be reminded of the life I've been given instead of comparing and being "inconvenienced". Nothing is better than the life and love You've given me!

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