I Can SOOOO Relate!

I was the young mother of one precious daughter at the time.  She was a good baby, but motherhood is a big transition, no matter how much experience with children you have.  There are always people around you who look like they have it all together.  They always speak calmly to their children.  They are always on time.  They even always manage to have time to shower and dress in a stylish way. 

One Sunday my together, stylish, calm, showered friend came to our new members group at church looking exhausted, hair out of place and ready to cry.   Her husband had been on a business trip and her two young daughters were giving her a run for her money.  I know it was wrong of me but I was SO happy to see her struggling so.  I saw, for the first time, that she was a mom like me AND if she is a mom like me then there is hope for me to be a mom like her.  Now what I should have done is tuck that little treasure moment in my heart for future reference on discouraging days.  Instead I kept remarking on how pleased I was to see her hair out of place and commented on how exhausted she looked.  I didn't say it once but several times with her kind eyes pleading with me to SHUT UP. 

It is important for us to share one another's burdens.  It is important to be able to relate to one another as wives, mothers...women.  How can we grow and learn and have a positive impact in our homes if we are stuck with belief that everyone else has it all together?  That would cause many a mother, me included, to want to throw in the towel very early on in the game.  BUT, being able to share those down and dirty real RAW moments helps us to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps, cling more tightly to the robes of Christ and walk forward in our weakness.  My first daughter will be 20 in just a few days.  I am truly thankful for that stressed out mama, although I have learned to be tactful...more often...

May this new year bring you great joy as you continue to Mama your children.