JUST A MOM
Tucked deep into a journal I kept while raising my children, I discovered this entry. I don’t remember how old my kids were or what prompted the outpouring of my heart. What I do remember is that constant wondering if my life held significance— if I mattered.
I am done with those days now. Yet still the question lingers… For all you moms wondering if your hours add up to nothingness… may you know way down deep that what you do today adds up to forever…
From my heart,
Diane
JUST A MOM
I absolutely love being just a mom.
No agendas to fulfill, no boss to please. No office to shower and dress and curl and paint for every morning.
I get up each dawn wrapped in my cozy robe; stumble bleary-eyed to the kitchen where steaming coffee awaits me. Instead of office gossip, I am greeted with warm hugs and mumbled G’morning mom’s from little people who are genuinely glad to see me—
Just as I am.
I plan my day not on a computer, but with a warm body curled on my lap.
What should we do today?
Should we go to the park? Or the zoo? Or have a tea party for two?
Certainly there are chores to do. But I am my own boss.
I decide if the laundry needs doing or can wait ‘til a rainy day.
I decide to pick a bunch of home-nurtured roses
or hunt through tangled vines for hiding green beans,
or mow the lawn.
I can choose to stop to play army in the sandbox with my lieutenant general.
I can choose to boogie to blues while my performers do their thing on rollerblades.
I control the destiny of my days.
Each day is an adventure— no two days look the same.
While a semblance of routine exists,
(get up, have breakfast, clean up, make beds… make dinner, clean up, get everybody to bed)
the order is simply a parameter to frame my days.
What to do with the in between part is totally up to me.
How well I do it is up to me too.
These being just a mom days are the most important days of my life.
Nothing I will ever do will compare in significance with the nurturing and training and playing and praying with my children that I do now.
Nothing.
Someday I may make more money, but never a better investment.
Someday I may get raises and reviews, maybe even a promotion or two.
Now I get slobbery kisses and homemade I-LOVE-YOU-MOM cards for no reason.
I am molding a life.
Each day shimmers with significance. My impact of my children holds immeasurable importance.
Talk about power...
I’ve got it!
Prestige...
I am the center of my children’s universe!
Who do all the professional football players say “Hi!” to on national T.V.? Why not “Hi Dad!” or “Hi Boss!” or “Hi Ms. Executive VP?”
Power. Prestige. What else?
How about Position?
I am in a strategic position to place the wisdom of the ages in the hearts and minds of my children. Every time I open the Word of God to my kids, every time I help them to memorize a verse for next week’s Sunday School, every time they see me read my Bible and ponder its meaning, every time I help them to bring their troubles to God in prayer.
I am leading my children onto the path of life.
A woman of incredible power…
in a place of prestige…
holding an immeasurably important position…
I am just a mom.
“So teach us to number our days that we may present to Thee a heart of wisdom…
Let the favor of the Lord be upon us and do give permanence to the work of our hands,
Yes, give permanence to the work of our hands.”
Psalm 90:12, 17