I’ve had this subject on my heart for awhile and have waited to write on it because I wanted to make sure that my words were reflecting my heart accurately. I want this post to encourage. It may bring conviction and my prayer is that if this post brings conviction- that encouragement follows. It’s like when we first hear about Jesus and feel convicted and want to give our life to him and then when we do we feel so encouraged to change and walk through life in a new light.
So, prayerfully, here we go…
For the past two years I have seen all over social media mothers talk about how hard motherhood is, how exhausted they are, how different life is etc. Then, I have watched countless other mothers chime in and explain how they can relate. Before you know it, all are swept up in a conversation that is draining. Often I hear mothers try to compare. They say their life is much harder because they have a bunch of kids compared to the mom with one, or they have twins and others don’t, or my personal favorite; they have 5 under 5 while the other mom only has 3 under 10.
I get it, motherhood can be hard. There are the days that feel like years. There are days where you have offered every snack possible and your child still is asking for something else. There are days you want to sit and eat a hot meal. There are days you wish your child would be nice to you and not give you attitude (hello teen years!). And when these days are stacked on top of each other and it turns into months and then years, feelings of being overwhelmed and exhaustion can set in. You sit and wonder when life will feel the way it use to and get overwhelmed thinking you have a solid two decades or so until that happens. Then, you figure out how old you will be when that normal life returns and get sad thinking your life will be more than halfway over at that point. (Don’t act like I am the only one who has thought this)
There is a weight to motherhood that only a mother knows, that is why so many of us can sit forever and talk about how hard it is and how tired we are. Emotions are not a bad thing. God created us to have emotions. It is when these emotions take over our joy that it becomes sinful.
It is easy to sit and talk with someone who can relate to what you are going through. I find it vital to do so because we can encourage each other because we relate to one another. That encouragement will help us keep our joy.
Motherhood is full of joy and we should try everyday to focus our hearts on that joy. There are always going to be things in our life that if we focus too much on- it will steal our joy. We need to work everyday to have thankful hearts and a joyful spirit. And when we see a mother have a hard day, to speak from that thankful heart and encourage her. I am sure when it’s our turn to have a hard day we would appreciate some encouragement as well.
Are you thankful for being a mother? What are you sharing more of? The hardship or the joys of motherhood? Are you thankful God blessed you with the calling of motherhood? If so, let’s rejoice together!
I often think, would Manny or Chase feel loved, wanted, and joyful when reading my social media posts and my blog posts? Will they see a mother who even through the hard times saw joy. If I didn’t lead my life with a thankful heart towards parenting, don’t you think they would feel that? That is the level of accountability I have to apply to myself because I too can get drugged into complaining.
My prayer with this blog post is for mothers to know they can laugh together, cry together, and relate to one another through a thankful heart. I want mothers to be careful on what conversations they allow themselves to engage in and protect themselves from speaking out of a complaining heart. There is so much joy in this life we live and we need to share more of that side. That doesn’t mean the hardship goes away, but it does put our focus on the joy and joy brings rest and peace. And every mother can use some rest and peace 😉
Please know, I am always here to pray with you. I love when people message me with prayer needs. If you are a mother who finds yourself trapped in the complaining and want to feel the joy- please know I am praying for you, myself, and all of us. We are in this together.
Good thoughts here. I’m not a mother, but one of the things I tell people I work with all the time is, concepts transfer. I think that definitely applies here. With anything, we can easily fall into the mode of complaining and dwelling if we are not intentional otherwise. Good reminder to focus on being thankful and joyful, regardless of the circumstance.
So true! This applies across all areas of life!