Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all of you mom's out there.  Mother's day - a day set aside to celebrate and honor our moms.  What are your expectations on Mother's day?  Some want extravagant gifts or breakfast in bed.  Others just want a day where they have to do nothing. And some just want the gift of your presence or time.  Each mother is special in our own unique way - which is great.

There are days us mother's can feel very unappreciated.  We do the dishes, fix the meals,scrub the floors, clean the bathrooms, pack lunches, run the kids from here to there.  Moms make sure everyone has clean clothes to wear, food to eat and tries to make sure the house is clean.  Let's not forget about the homework and projects that the kids need help with.  Many moms are the first one up in the morning and the last to go to bed.  Throughout the day we can wear many different hats - from maid to taxi driver. 

And then, we mothers compare ourselves to each other and begin to make ourselves feel like we aren't enough.  Ugly thoughts start to go through our minds to make us feel like we aren't a good mother.  I have fallen into that trap many times before.  When my kids were little we did not have a schedule, we often winged it from day to day - while other moms had strict schedules for their kids.  I was lucky if I could get one book in sometime throughout our week - when others took their kids to story time at the library.  I saw mother's who would do crafts with their kids daily - I cringed at the idea of the kids wanting to play with playdough.  I made the kids their own birthday cakes and invited over the family to celebrate - other mom's invited the whole class to go bowling for their kid's birthday.  I began to think that I was a failure as a mother and I wasn't enough.  I began to realize that when I stepped into the comparison trap I was only hurting myself.  We all mother differently and that doesn't mean that my way is wrong.  God made us the mothers of our kids for a reason.  He knew exactly what he was doing when he gave us the kids he did.  There are still days I feel like I'm going to mess them up and I'm not going to do everything right - and there is probably some truth in that.  However, I'm leaning on God to help me.  Our children are on loan from God - and I learned that lesson a little quicker than I wanted to.  So I'm choosing to make the most of my time with my boys.  Believe me when I say that it isn't all sunshine and rainbows at our house.  We still have our moments when it isn't so pretty, but I'm choosing to let some stuff go and focus on what is more important in life - TIME.  So yes if you were to drop by my house - it might not be the cleanest and we might have laundry scattered all over the house - and I'm ok with that. 

I was listening to the radio the other day and heard a version of 1 Corinthians 13 for moms. Most of the time we hear that read at weddings and associate it to the love of our spouse or maybe even our neighbors.  However, Jim Fowler adapted it to mothers and I found it very fitting for today.  I hope you enjoy it as much as I did and that it brings you a little bit of encouragement today.  Happy Mother's Day!

I Corinthians 13 for Mothers (by Jim Fowler)
If I live in a house of spotless beauty with everything in its place, but have not love,
I am a housekeeper, not a homemaker.

If I have time for waxing, polishing, and decorative achievements, but have not love,
my children learn cleanliness, not godliness.

If I scream at my children for every infraction, and fault them for every mess they make,
but have not love,
my children become people-pleasers, not obedient children.

Love leaves the dust in search of a child’s laugh.

Love smiles at the tiny fingerprints on a newly cleaned window.

Love wipes away the tears before it wipes up the spilled milk.

Love picks up the child before it picks up the toys.

Love accepts the fact that I am the ever-present “mommy,”
the taxi-driver to every childhood event,
the counsellor when my children fail or are hurt.

Love crawls with the baby, walks with the toddler, and runs with the child,
then stands aside to let the youth walk into adulthood.

Before I became a mother I took glory in my house of perfection.
Now I glory in God’s perfection of my child.

All the projections I had for my house and my children
have faded away into insignificance,

And what remain are the memories of my kids.

Now there abides in my home scratches on most of the furniture, dishes with missing place settings,

and bedroom walls full of stickers, posters and markings,

But the greatest of all is the Love that permeates my relationships with my children.