Real moms struggle with frustration and perspective

At the sound of glass shattering,  Anna races across the house.

“Now what?!” I just went to grab some socks!”

As she runs into the kitchen, standing in the middle of broken glass with wide-eyed fear is her youngest child. Anna’s heart thumps with a mixture of fear, anger, and relief.

“How could she reach that glass way back on the counter? I did push it back from the edge, didn’t I? Didn’t I? Why can’t she leave things alone?” Anna wonders.

“Don’t move!” Anna cries out to her youngest who is now wailing with fear. “Wait right there while I clean up the glass. You’re okay. Mommy’s here.”

Anna cleans up the shattered glass, thoroughly checks out her youngest child for cuts or embedded glass, and then sighs with relief when she finds nothing. She hugs and comforts her unhurt child, stilling the tears and the fears, waiting for her own adrenaline rush to subside. She breathes a prayer of thankfulness for her child’s protection and revels in the sweet arms tightly clinging to her neck.

Though her drinking glass supply is running low at least there won’t be another doctor bill to pay . . . at this moment. “Maintain your perspective,” Anna whispers to herself.

She grabs another glass — this one non-breakable — fills it with water and hands it to her youngest child. Thoughts scream through her mind, “A simple drink cost this much energy! Seriously? And it’s only 8:00 in the morning!”

As Anna’s heartbeat slows, she realizes this isn’t what she dreamed motherhood would be. This is a LOT of HARD work!

“When I dreamed of being a Mom, I pictured sweet-faced children cuddling on my lap. We’d read stories and sing songs together. Oh the fun we’d have making cookies and dunking them in milk! We’d have outings to the park. My girls would be so cute all of the time. Mealtimes would be filled with laughter,” she muses.

But Anna’s life is very different from her dreams.

She’s tired most of the time. She can’t remember the last time she actually slept through the entire night. What would it be like to actually drink a whole warm cup of coffee? Her children’s constant needs and demands drain all her energy. She finds herself losing her patience and regretting her words and actions practically every day. And let’s not even talk about mealtimes! She’s grateful to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

Standing in the midst of her now glass-free kitchen, Anna’s rose-colored world shatters to reveal her reality. As she inhales deeply, she has a choice to make. Will she cling to the rose-colored dream or step boldly into her real world? Is she really cut out to be a mom?

Are you at this crossroad today, Sweet Momma? Are you wondering if anything you do really matters?

It does!

Really.

Mothering is the most important job you will ever have!

Period.

Mothers:

• Teach hygiene
• Teach manners
• Teach housecleaning skills
• Teach communication skills
• Teach us how to be disciplined people
• Teach business skills
• Teach time management skills
• Teach reading, writing, and ‘rithmetic
• Teach the cause and effect brought by our actions
• Teach us how to wonder
• Teach us about our Creator
• Teach us to delight in our world
• Encourage us to explore our world
• Encourage us to face our fears
• Encourage us to try something new
• Encourage us to be continual learners
• Encourage us to be authentic people
• Bandage our wounds – physical, emotional, and mental
• Comfort
• Listen
• Advise
• Correct
• Admonish
• Exhort
• Praise
• Believe in us when no one else does
• Love us … always

Motherhood is the most rewarding and difficult task you will ever take on. It will challenge and humble you in ways nothing else could. It will reveal who you really are.

Live today. Focus on the simple extraordinary moments – the little blessings tucked into today. Some may be rose colored; others might be smudged a bit or sticky with peanut butter and jelly.

Too soon those little arms will be grown.

Too soon those little voices will deepen.

Too soon your house will be quiet.

Treasure today. It’s all you really have . . . and each moment is extraordinary.

How about you? What mothering reality doesn’t fit your rose colored glasses? If you need help, please reach out. I promise to listen without judgment and help you take the next step.