for mother’s day…

Growing up, I had the best mom in the world. This was always just a fact of life. She worked hard (both at home & in her job), loved us well, and provided a home that was a haven to us and all of our friends. She sacrificed her time, energy, and convenience. The woman was the epitome of selfless. I can think of the different times where she would be battling a raging migraine, but we wouldn’t even know it because she was so focused on taking care of us first. I have always, always respected her. Even as a young girl, I knew she was rocking this whole mom gig.

BUT I DIDN’T TRULY GET IT.. Until I became a mom. I didn’t know about all of the love, worry, stress, thoughts, time, energy, sleep-deprivation, and joy that went into it. Everything in me loves everything about my little person. I get overwhelmed with thankfulness when I even slightly dwell on the fact that God entrusted me to be his mom. My heart breaks when he doesn’t feel good. I celebrate big when he figures out something new. I am so tickled when something cracks him up or he just has a moment where he is truly loving life. AND THIS IS JUST THE BEGINNING. I can’t even imagine the emotions and excitement and heartbreak that is in store. And even more LOVE that I’m pretty confident may just explode my heart.

Moms that have gone before me, I salute you. You are our rock. You get it. You are our proof that you can live in the days of blow-outs, tantrums, clinginess, snotty noses, and piles of laundry.. And SURVIVE it. You are the ones telling us to forget the dishes and sit on the floor to play. You are our encouragement when we feel like we aren’t enough or failing at this whole mom thing. You coo over our littles while you tell us that these are the days. And you know what? I believe you. When thinking of Caleb graduating from high school and going off to do life on his own, it already makes me teary-eyed. So thank you for the reminder that I should embrace his clinginess and give some extra snuggles, because soon enough it will be me that’s the clingy one (which he will just LOVE, I’m sure).

Moms that are in this season with me, YOU ROCK. Believe that!!! I get it. I have my days where I choose to believe the lies that I could be doing more or I could be better at this or that or my son wouldn’t have gotten sick if I didn’t do blah blah blah. But that’s just what those are… LIES. If we are worrying about being a good mom, then chances are we are good moms. (That’s what I’m telling myself anyway.) So we have got to stop all the worrying and just enjoy that we even get to be these little people’s mothers. They think we are so awesome (and that’s even including the ones that are now too cool to admit it). God gave us this gift to be mothers to these kiddos so we need to trust Him in that.

Single moms, I BOW DOWN TO YOU. Seriously. You are doing double time and usually not even getting the credit for it. Let me just say that you are SO noticed. I pray for you ALL of the time. Doing this crazy mommy thing WITH help is hard enough so I cannot even imagine having to do it on your own. So know this today.. YOU ARE AMAZING. Like go buy yourself some ice cream and Starbucks. Because you stinkin’ deserve it.

Girls that aren’t moms yet and so desperately want to be, I cannot even describe how much I am praying with you for your heart’s greatest desire. But more than that, God sees you and loves you. He absolutely has not forgotten you, even when it feels like it. And I know that can be hard coming from someone that has a little person, but I just want you to know that you are never, ever forgotten in my prayers. I know that this has the potential to be a hard day for you as you so wish to already be at this next stage in your life. I am praying that you feel so loved and cherished, because you most definitely deserve to be celebrated too. You also deserve Starbucks or a delicious fresh-out-of-the-oven cookie. (Can you tell what my go-to coping mechanism is??)

Mothers hold such a special place in all of our hearts. Adopted mamas, step mamas, grandmas, foster mamas, mama in laws, ladies that have just stepped in to a person’s life and treated them as your own (even if there’s no legal document to bind you), and other women that just love your friend’s kiddos as if they were your own, YOU ARE A TREASURE. 

So as we go into Mother’s Day and joke about how this is our opportunity to take the ‘day off,’ I pray that we would all celebrate the joys of motherhood. We have been entrusted BY GOD to take care of/raise/teach/love HIS CHILDREN. There is no greater calling.