Motherhood

Whether you’re in the thick of the newborn days – you don’t know your days from nights, you’re ups from downs. You’re in a fog of surviving the next few hours. It’ hard to see your one success in what feels like your pile of failures. You’re hurting, overly exhausted. Your hormones are overtaking your weary body and mind all while trying desperately to not only keep your new tiny babe alive, but somewhere in the middle, you’re clinging onto every. single. fleeing. moment.

Or maybe you’re like me in the toddler / early childhood stage with several kids. You’re juggling it all and feel like you can’t keep up. You’re tired and worn thin. They need you. It’s demanding. You’re trying not to lose yourself in it all. It’s endless- the cleaning and cooking and schedules and life. You want to raise them strong and full of grace, but your patience is gone.

You might be navigating life with middle school / high school / college. Dealing with the fear of this world and how to protect them from it. How to raise them to be difference makers – leaders and not followers. You feel like your voice may not be as loud to them as it used to, muffled by the sounds of the world calling them.

Wherever you’re at in motherhood, hear this:

I am daily learning how to be a mama to my babies. Daily. I make mistakes every single day. But there’s one thing I’ve learned in these short years that has by far been most valuable to me that I want you to see too – you are not just birthing and raising new life in your children. You are birthing and raising a new you. She looks different, you don’t recognize her and you may not even like her, but oh, friend, you’ll soon grow to love her. You’ll see Him in her more and more every day by selflessly giving yourself to your family. You will see the grace of Jesus in her as she lays down her pride of image and takes on a whole new body, mind, and spirit. You see, we were made for this, to birth and raise. But the birthing and the raising comes also in the form of you. The birthing of a mama. There’s bucket loads of grace to be given to our children, our husbands, but how much more of it needs to be given back to ourselves? Yes, the definition of ‘hard’ has a whole new meaning when you become a mama, but I think so often people forget to talk about the spirit – filled, awe – striking moments that make up an ordinarily tired and boring day. The mundane can still hold miracles. It doesn’t all have to be so hard. It can be hard AND the most high calling all in one.

You see, there’s no losing yourself in motherhood. Instead, there’s simply the most beautiful finding of oneself. And it’s found in the humble giving of ourselves for a higher purpose day in and day out. Sound familiar? I think we have a pretty Mighty example to follow.