3 Reasons Why You Are Doing Great as a Mom

From the moment we bring our first child into our home it starts, doesn’t it? The questions, the doubt, the second-guessing. Do we give him a pacifier? How long should we let her cry in the crib before we go get her? Are we reading to him enough?

And it continues as they grow, too. Should we start music lessons AND soccer AND a foreign language? Is it time to give her some responsibility with a puppy? What about chores and allowance?

Believe me, the questions never end, even as they get older. And with all those questions, we do our research, educate ourselves, poll friends and family, pray, and then finally make a decision. Sometimes the choices we make work out great, other times…well, not so much.

Let me tell you. It is a given that we’ll have lots and lots of decisions to make. And some of those decisions are made out of a need for life support. We will miss out on those teaching moments once in a while because we are just plain tired. We’ll go through the drive through for dinner because there hasn’t been any time to grocery shop.

Then we begin to feel like we aren’t doing such a great job at this Mom thing. Oh, have I been there.

However, when you get to that point, I want to encourage you to think about some things that REALLY matter. The things that you are winning at!

1. LOVE: Let’s face it. You love your kids. From the moment you held each of them in your arms, your heart grew an extension of itself which contained all this amazing ability to love even more. No matter how horribly the day goes, at its end, you can peek into their room, look at them while they are sleeping, and you feel that indescribable love. NO one can love your children the way you can. Tell them you love them. Don’t stop telling them (even if they say they already know). You are amazing at loving your children!
2. TIME: You might see this one and say, “When do I have time to be with them?” We imagine time with our kids as a perfect greeting card moment where we are sitting on a picnic blanket while they set down the homemade sandwiches we made so they can fly their new kite that the two of you built together out of handmade paper and homespun string. We just don’t have space in our schedule for that kind of time.

But your children benefit from your time in ways you may not realize. You see, good time spent with them doesn’t have to always be quality time. They benefit from your time as you wash dishes in the kitchen while they sweep up the floor. They benefit from the time with you as they play with Legos in the living room and you sit on the couch folding clothes.

You see, the great conversations won’t always happen when you plan the perfect situations. They need quantity time for that quality time to happen. And often it will happen when you are putting groceries away or cooking dinner. Going about our days with our children is testimony to the amazing time you are spending with them.

1. SELFLESSNESS: What can I say? Moms are selfless from the start. We get up with our children however many times we need to during the night when they are sick (and we’ll do it even when WE are sick!). We carefully cut their grapes in half for them when they are little. When there are two cookies left, we give our child the one with tons of chocolate chips and take the plain one for ourselves. We make sure they are buckled, bundled, and fed before we check our needs. If you are feeling guilty that you are not a good mom, just know that that guilt often stems from you telling yourself you aren’t doing enough for them. You are amazingly selfless!

It all boils down to the fact that you are FOR your children. You are trying to do your best with your resources and abilities. You get up each day and start over again, loving and serving them. You spend your time praying over them.

Let me encourage you. You are doing a great job because you are concerned you’re not doing a great job.

I’ll say that again: You are doing a great job because you are concerned you’re not doing a great job!

That concern should show you that you are wanting great things for your children. Call out to the Lord for His direction and His strength. Be faithful as you have been, doing the things you need to do each day…the ordinary things…because they need to be done. You see, THAT is what produces the extraordinary! God will bring fruit out of the work He has given you to do. Keep it up, Moms!