The Gift of Momhood

Hand’s down- the greatest gift in my life has been motherhood.  For my Mom, also.  It was easy to see because she expressed gratitude through love for her child.

I’ve had the joy of raising four children and the blessing of their sweet begats- each one has a unique story that has added greatly to my own.  The common thread through theirs and mine is how it has taught me to gratefully lean hard on the Lord through every season of motherhood.

One of the great privileges I have is to speak with (and learn from) moms of all kinds. At a last (pre-demic) Mother-Daughter event, I noticed how every table was filled with women of all titles on the same path but a different journey – moms, grammas, aunts, sisters and daughters.  Every dear one was walking through a different season —  some young busy moms of toddlers, some not-so-young busy moms of teens, weary and working moms trying to hold a home together, empty nest moms finding their new fit in the transition – and then there are those who are aging moms, remembering it all . . .  And I do.

Although it’s an awesome assignment to give life, nurture and protect the heritage God has given us as moms, it is also a beautiful calling to meet the physical, emotional and spiritual needs of our children and serve our families well. But we can’t do it alone . . .

So, in order to create a grace-spaced life we need to somehow stay connected and dependent on the gift-Giver. As a young mom and as an old mom there are many things I wish I had done differently, but one will remain constant – to simply abide. It teaches us something grand and holy.

It has been a sweet mission on my life to raise my Gen-Xers in a simpler time, but it wasn’t without the frazzled mix of dedication and distraction.  And sometimes frustration.  We’ve all had one whose terrible 2s seemed to last into their 20s.  So, it hasn’t been without the painful moments of dealing with prodigals, illness and loss.  But gratefully, every stage is valuable in their lives and ours.

Abiding is the sacred place of the heart that only you and God find together.  Find it and keep it, dear momma.  Having children is a divine calling and learning to delight in them as God delights in us – is the unimaginable grace.

May you have a richly blessed Mother’s Day . .

I am the vine, you are the branches.  Whoever abides in Me and I in them will bear much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.  John ~  fifteen.