“I get the feeling that you really don’t like being just a mom.” The words my husband spoke were concise and piercing. He had seen something deep in the heart of me, and now was the time to purge it from my soul and bring it out into the light.
Did I really like being just a mom? Did I really find joy in the laundry and lunch making, toy clean up, diaper changing, and….you get the point.
I thought for a moment on this, and the answer that stumbled out of my mouth next surprised even me.
“You’re right, I don’t like just being a mom.”
For years I lived under the delusion that to be a mom meant my life was simply to do that: motherhood. The second my son was born all my hopes, dreams and wants stopped and everything was meant to be poured into this little person I was so graciously entrusted to. And I did.
I did the cooking, cleaning, and diapering; with great joy. But as time wore on, my heart grew restless. Restless for more. To be more. To do more. In that restlessness I discovered something incredibly profound.
The greatest disservice we as women can do for our children is to live lives as JUST moms.
Yes, satisfaction can be found in motherhood. Yes, we must choose joy in the mundane and monotony that it can lend. Motherhood is a gift and responsibility that should never be met lightly or with ambiguity. However, motherhood is not the end of our ability to serve and live a life outside of our family.
Maybe you’re sitting there and you feel an ache to go on a mission trip or volunteer at a ministry, or go back and finish school. The stinging ache of “mom guilt” begins to well up inside you and you tell yourself those things have to wait, you’re a mother and that has to be your focus.
But dear ladies, we will always be mothers.
So let’s be mothers who show our children what it means to step out in radical faith to do amazing things for the Kingdom that reach far beyond ourselves and our families. Imagine what lessons we teach our kids when we show them a heart that longs to serve and sacrifice for them as well as serve and sacrifice on behalf of the call of the King.
What might God be calling you to that can lead you to be more than just a mom? What’s holding you back from embracing the chance to become all God hopes for you to be?
You might think you are nothing more than just a mom, but sweet lady, you are so very much more.
