So you’ve just wiped up spilled milk, scrubbed crayon off the wall, threw in your fourth load of wash for the day, wrestled up a quick, nutritious lunch for your hungry brood, kissed a hurt and sealed it with a band-aid! You’ve rocked, and lulled, and sung sweet lullabies, while all the while just wanting to have a spare minute for yourself but you can’t find one anywhere. The day wears on and the hours are tedious and so the same with whines, and cries, and fussiness and wet diapers, and quarrels, and how come no one ever told you that motherhood assigned you referee credentials? So, you’re a mom, and when you signed up for parenthood, you were unaware of its strange mix of excitement, fear, joy, panic, happiness, sorrow, fun, or anxiety. But it is and there you are right up there in the top ranking of it all, and it’s awesome but it’s scary, and it’s sheer delight but it’s frustration, and it’s rewarding but it’s so time-consuming. Oh, so time-consuming!! Yeah, motherhood; there’s really nothing like it on the planet! Its challenges are out of this world and it’s rocked yours to the moon and back. It’s got you booked solid ~ hook, line and sinker and drowning in its many demands! The hats you wear are ridiculous and next to impossible and your sanity? Well, it’s gone south for a break and right now as you think you might go under for the very last time, know that you won’t! You won’t because your job is the toppest of the top-notch jobs in the whole wide world.
You’ve been entrusted with gifts from heaven, all ‘little life’, wrapped up and so tenderly placed in your lap. And there you are!! Smack dab in the middle of days that don’t end and nights that don’t sleep. Those gifts of life are yours to cherish, to love, and to nurture, guide, teach and train and when that journey overwhelms your beautiful soul, remember King Lemuel’s mom had some good words of advice for him in Proverbs 31: 10, 17, 25, 26, 28. She told him exactly how fortunate he would be to find a woman of noble character just like you. You may be tired and exhausted but your value is outstanding… “A wife of noble character who can find? She is worth far more than rubies…….she sets about her work vigorously; her arms are strong for her tasks…she is clothed with strength and dignity; she can laugh at the days to come. She speaks with wisdom, and faithful instruction is on her tongue…Her children arise and call her blessed; her husband also and he praises her.”
God hasn’t promised pastel rainbows for your days of motherhood, in fact, some days might just well be purple and red, but He has promised joy to the mom who seeks Him and grace for the one who walks the ho-hum of the daily journey by His side. No, your rewards won’t necessarily be seen nor given out today there in your little kitchen nook, but your loyal works and your tedious steps will etch their memories into little hearts that will grow big and strong to become mom and dads of their own little gifts of life. So mom, take heart! Your tasks performed faithfully today will navigate back and will find their way into your seasoned heart of hearts when all you have left are the memories of the long lost, good old days. So yeah, beautiful Mom, enjoy these joyous but trying days of motherhood. They’ll be gone all too quickly.
As we move through a very fearful time in history with COVID -19 threatening on every front and in every country every continent, let’s not forget to celebrate our Saviour in this precious Holy A holy week, this year, surrounded by some kind of evil force raging on all fronts, against us, around us, beside, behind and before. Yeah, today is Palm Sunday, the celebration of our King, the week before the cross, and we celebrate at home, maybe through virtual connection and Social media! Yet, today, we celebrate our Saviour, who didn’t come to be an earthly king, but a heavenly King and One of greater glory. One of Heavenly glory that would finally defeat the ultimate enemy of death! So as we move through the day our emphasis and focus are on the triumphal entry of our Lord riding into Jerusalem on the lowliness of a borrowed donkey! This event fulfilled an ancient prophecy prophesied back in Zechariah 9:9:
Raising four kids over my ‘mom’ years has taught me some interesting and valuable lessons about forgiveness. I’m still learning but I’ve realized it isn’t about the other person or the offender at all. No ~ As selfish as it sounds, It’s about the “me, myself and I”, before the Lord, in the situation, and His power and His strength in us, giving us the ability, to accept the loss or the hurt, regardless of how deep it may go! We have to get closer to God in order to forgive an
Think of it this way! Have you ever forgiven your kids, even when they haven’t asked? When they’re young, we do don’t we? And in their child-like simplicity, they forgive us when we fail them in their little worlds, so big to their concerns. It’s all in a day’s work and just a valuable part of training in kids-world and parenting. However, as they get older with their own minds and rebellious behaviours, it becomes a little more “adult-like” difficult and chances are they’re not asking because they don’t care. So, rather than harbour it, holding it against them ~ we have to accept what they’ve done, forgive and let it go and yeah, maybe ten times a day or more and always with the knowledge of another day tomorrow with maybe more of the same scenario. Remember the offender seldom asks nor do they have the ability nor power to heal. If we depend on the offender for our healing we may take the bitterness to our grave.
Hope and Healing In Hard Places 