oh boy. am i feeling sentimental or what?!
eight years ago today i became a mom for the very first time. i know this is a special day for my happy boy, but it is also a special day for me. (if you want a good cry, read my post about him last year called the Lord has made me happy).
it is the 8 year anniversary of the most rewarding and hardest calling of my entire life - being a mom.
i have read many wonderful blog posts across the internet about the joys and the trials of being a mom. i feel like there is so much encouragement available out there for christian moms who are in the trenches of raising kids who love the Lord.
even at the expense of all of you saying that i am sounding like that little old lady in target telling you to "enjoy them now because they grow up too quickly," i will say that it does go by awfully fast and even i (still in the trenches of an 8 year old, 6 year old, 4 year old, 18 mos old, and being 7.5 mos pregnant) find myself grasping for ways to slow time down. life is not easy being a mom, but it is worth it.
sometimes i find myself grumbling and complaining about piles of dirty socks and shoes in the middle of the kitchen floor, the cheerios all over and under the table, the cap-less markers strewn through the house, the eternal laundry piles of clean and dirty clothes, moldy orange peels left in the lunch bags, and fingerprints everywhere. and then i think of families i know, rather closely in fact, who have lost this all in one single day.
i stop and realize, this could all be taken away from me in a single moment...
both the messes and the mess-makers.
so i find myself following ann's lead and counting my grace gifts, for that is what they are... all gifts.
thank you Lord for the never ending stinky, dirty, mud-stained piles of clothes.
thank you Lord for the pee on the floor i stepped in walking into the bathroom, since i share the only bathroom in the house with 5, soon to be 6, boys.
thank you Lord for the mess (resembling vaguely a war-torn downtown bagdad) in the back of my minivan.
thank you Lord for the evidence that there is life all around me.
i am thankful for today because i know i am not promised a thousand tomorrows.
in fact tomorrow may never come. if it doesn't, every one of the past 8 years of days have been the most amazing gift anyone has ever given me.
and if this is all i ever get, not one day more or one day less, i can honestly say it is all worth it.
every single sleepless night. every single backache. every single moment losing my food while pregnant. every single obstacle to breastfeed. every single worried moment spent in the hospital with a child. every single frustration with learning this thing called consistency and discipline. every single tear that has fallen. every single time i am late and tired and grouchy and worn out from the trials and tribulations called being a mom.
all of it is worth it because all of it is a gift.
and when i stand before the Lord and give an account for my life, how i used my time, my words, and my resources, i will say thank you for the honor of entrusting these little ones to me. thank you for the cross i got to bear, with joy, to serve and love and pour out my life that they may know You and the power of Your resurrection.
i get to be a mom and it is the highest calling i will ever have.
if i lead thousands in worship...
if i speak before hundreds of thousands proclaiming the gospel...
if i get to fund the biggest missions movement in history with the resources God blesses me with...
none of these - none- compare to getting to lead these little ones day by day to a life of faithfully walking with the Lord.
i serve a God who sees what is done is secret. i am so thankful that though the life of a mom may be unglamorous to most, the reward will be great when it counts.
thank you asher for making me a mom.
it is the greatest gift i have been given besides the promise of eternal life from my Savior.
happy birthday son. i love you.
charis
