Being a Mom is hands down my favorite role in this life. I know this is true for most moms out there and they can relate to this sentiment: Sometimes I catch myself just staring at my kids totally enraptured--marveling over the gifts they are and that they're mine.
Clearly, motherhood does not come without its challenges too. I mean the whole journey starts with birth of some sort, somewhere--and it's not without pain--even with all the medication in the world. The entire journey from that moment on is a constant learning curve that requires planning and pivoting--and very rarely, if ever, is a mom "off the clock."
As they say, it takes a village to raise a child. Only being twelve years into the motherhood adventure, I could not have made it this far without the support of my best friends and family--and--I am beyond thankful for my greater community too (including all of the podcast speakers, book writers, bloggers and people just posting meaningfully on Instagram out there).
It's the listening ears of my community and the generosity in the collective sharing of wisdom and experience that's helped me find my bearings along the way.
In my early twenties, before I was a mom, I used to think I might be half decent at the gig. After all, I had done a regular babysitting job for 4 kids and that went pretty well (ha!). My first month of being a mom changed my perspective on parenting forever (long before my first daughter could even utter the syllable, "No."): It's the hardest job there is. It exposes you. It makes you vulnerable. I resolved in that moment to never ever judge another parent ever again.
Yet it's the exposer and vulnerability that helps to create the beauty, the growth and the potential for flourishing relationship. If we're willing to be wounded in vulnerability, it creates the space for growth, for dependency and for connection. And if there's anything I've learned on being a mother, it's that motherhood creates these opportunities for growth quite often.
Being a mother allows me the beautiful privilege of walking alongside my kids as they learn to navigate the struggles and joys of this life--both inside of themselves and in the world around them. Through it all, I have the good work of being able to see my kid, to be present with them, to laugh with them, to struggle with them. It's the job that continually fills. It's what I was made for.
I do not get things right 100% of the time--no one can--but I am always watching for ways to care, always creating moments for connection, always reminding them I am a safe place forever, and always pouring out love--even if that's in asking for forgiveness.
To every mom reading this, I know you are doing these same things too. It's the easiest to let lies of "mom guilt" slip in for all it seems we're not doing. Today, I hope you'll stop those thoughts in their tracks and allow your mind and heart to delight in the gifts you uniquely bring to your kids. Allow yourself this permission--this grace--and celebrate all that you give every day just by getting out of bed to be there for your people.
Happy Mother's Day!
