Motherhood and all that it entails tends to be largely unappreciated. Just consider the various forms we complete. When it comes to the section entitled “Occupation”, we reluctantly complete it as “unemployed”, “mom”, “homemaker” or “housewife”. What we really want to say is: “There’s not enough room on the line for what we do!”
I was recently surprised to read in an article that a woman wrote in complaining about her friend with children because this mother “claimed” that she was so busy. She implied that she was just as busy if not more so because she worked full-time and still got everything done around the house and had time for friends. She actually accused this mother of lying about being busy because after all, she is home all day.
Sadly, many of us are buying into the lie that being a mom alone isn’t significant enough. More than that, we’re ashamed that we feel that way so we try to look like we have it all together. We look around at other moms with their seemingly well-behaved children, perfectly kept home, freshly baked meals, theme planned birthday parties, and we feel like we’re failing all the while wearing a smile on our faces. Is this really helping us? We are not supermoms and that is okay. We were never meant to take on that burden. We were all uniquely made with unique strengths. We are not going to be able to do everything the mom down the street does. As long as we keep trying to be who we were never meant to be, we will continue to feel like failures. We must take time to rest and simply be who we were made to be… the mom who dearly loves her children.
Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.” Matthew 11:28 – 30 (The Message)
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