Motherhood is sanctifying. 1 Timothy 2:15 states “yet she will be saved through childbearing—if they continue in faith and love and holiness, with self-control.”
I think of all of the ways that Jesus’s life and ministry may reflect some things that we experience in motherhood. Of course Jesus was loving and compassionate. Constantly kissing away boo-boos. But he was also followed by crowds of people. Every where he went people followed, which sounds like motherhood.— and me, being me, it makes me wonder was Jesus ever alone? And this inevitably made me think, I wonder if he peed alone? Did he have to tell Peter to stop following him for a minute so he could just go to the bathroom? Sounds like motherhood.
Jesus was constantly needed. Everywhere he went, he was being asked to come heal someone or teaching a crowd of people. When he tried to take a nap he was quickly interrupted since the disciples thought they were going to drown. Makes me think of when we get the kids to bed, finish cleaning up the house, and finally sit down on the couch. Our husband then looks at us and we quickly realize that well, guess the work isn’t over yet.
But the thing that stopped me as I was reading is that there were people that were following Jesus and listening to everything he had to say. But there were others that were consumed with their life circumstances and completely missed the fact that they were missing the moment of literally walking behind the actual Messiah.
Missing the moment is a trap we can so easily get stuck in.
I wish that I could say that I didn’t miss the moment in my motherhood journey but there was a point of time where I missed it really bad. For almost the first two years of my son’s life I was so consumed with what my life wasn’t that I was missing all that God had given me and the blessings that I had.
I wanted to be a stay at home mom but instead I was a full-time working mom. I came from a background where I had very absent parents, so I wanted to be an extremely present mom. What ended up happening is I became so consumed with grief over leaving my first born that I didn’t even enjoy the moments when I was there.
I missed the moment.
I tend to think that parenthood has two main purposes, to make functional little humans and to point our children to Jesus. This time is fleeting. The days are hard. But we can so easily miss the little moments we have to be Jesus to our kids. This is the time to teach them what it looks like to be a follower of Christ but we can’t do that if we’re consumed with difficult circumstances, even if those difficult circumstances are literally caused by those same sweet little people
This is what I missed in those two years. I was so down that I was not the hands and feet of Jesus to my child. I wasn’t the hands and feet of Jesus to my husband. I wasn’t the hands and feet of Jesus at all. I was completely consumed with disappointment. While life may be chaotic and disappointing sometimes, that doesn’t change the calling on our lives.
So the question you may be asking, so how do you not miss the moment?
Not missing the moment looks like praying over your kids as much as you can. For who they will be, thanking God for who they are. Prayers for protection, for their future spouse. Cover them in prayer.
It looks like worshiping and teaching your kids how to worship.
It looks like teaching them humility and grace. Forgiving them when they mess up. Asking for forgiveness when you lose your temper. Pray with them after disciplining them. Laughing with them.