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| {Source: Baby Blues} |
Funny, right? I thought so. Then Brylee got older and we had another baby and it's almost sad how true this became. Because even when dad buttons the shirt, mom is still playing a balancing act. Holding it all together. Being everything for everyone.
Am I right moms?
Emily Freeman calls this responsible, do-good, hold-it-together mom a "good girl" in her book Grace for the Good Girl. She describes her first year adjusting after giving birth to her twins and learning to trust Jesus....
That year I learned what it meant to depend on Jesus as my source of life more than I ever had before. It didn't happen at 6:00 a.m. with my coffee and my pen and my cozy blanket by the fire. It happened at 3:00 a.m. with two screaming babies and spit-up running down my leg. Gone were the days of quiet times I had known. I hardly had any time of quiet, much less a quiet time.
Did I read my Bible that year? Sure. Did I prayer that year? You'd better believe it. But it began to look different than it had before. My expectations of what it meant to be a grown-up shifted and flipped during that sleepless year. The confident, strong, independent woman I thought I would one day become had disappeared like a vapor, and in her place stood my relevant Jesus, waiting with a smile to be the strength I didn't have on my own.
Being mom to those babies taught me to stop trying to be like Jesus and simple trust Jesus to be himself in and through me. Because the truth was, I couldn't do it. {p. 143}
Sometimes I worry I'm not the same Christian I was when I was young and single and just had myself to look after. But Jesus knows and welcomes us wherever we are.
We have a Creator who knows about the swing. He set it into motion. He is not afraid of our life stages. They don't hinder him. He is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love. He offers us a new place to hide. {p. 144}
He is not afraid of our life stages! Such a simple thought and so reassuring to know.
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| {Source: Baby Blues} |
Another author describes this new place for mother's to hide...
As the mother's heart yearns for the help she knows she cannot give, the grace she cannot bestow, and she casts herself and children into the merciful arms of Christ, He will receive and bless them; He will give peace, hope, and happiness to mother and children. This a precious privilege which Jesus has granted to all mothers. {Adventist Home, p. 274}
Aaahhh... to be received and blessed by Christ. Peace, hope and happiness to all! A mother's dream come true :)
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| {Source: EmilyBurgerDesigns on Etsy} |
Emily Freeman describes this privilege another way...
To remain in him means to refuse to get up from his lap. When it seems like the situation calls for me to stand up and take charge, Jesus gives me permission to remain still, if only on the inside, to trust deeply and fully that he will be strong on my behalf. Even when it seems impossible. Even when it's counterintuitive. Even if it means I will look weak. To remain in him means to let the Great I Am be. {p. 147}
And, because checklists don't complete themselves, I am happy to know that being and doing unite in Christ.
This is where another voice speaks, the voice of One who invites you to abide in Him and rest. He renews, restores, and redeems. In the inspired words of Sarah Young, "He bends time in your favor." In a day that seems impossibly packed to overflowing with the list, he can multiply time and space like loaves and fishes beside the sea. And the gentle rhythm of truth rises from within.
Be. Trust. Receive. Respond.
When I live as though I believe that's true, activity doesn't stop. Rather, it takes on new life. It doesn't require an entire day of quiet reflection, although I wouldn't turn it down. It is purposing in my heart not to fret. It is allowing the day to go as it will. It is holding my plans with an open hand and a willing heart. ... Even in the midst of lots of activity, our souls have permission to rest. {p. 148}
John sums this up nicely:
He who abides in me, and I in Him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. {John 15:5}
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| {Source: SpeakLifeCreations on Etsy} |
{And for more mom-related laughs to brighten your day: Baby Blues "mom" archive}
