In honor of Mother's Day

It's the Friday before Mother's Day and in honor of the forthcoming holiday, my friend Meredith asked me for a contribution for a church project she is working on to commemorate the day. She requested that I send her a list of 5 challenges of motherhood and 5 joys. Here was my response:

My 5 biggest Challenges:

#5- Thinking of creative, non-destructive ways to occupy their time without relying on television as a babysitter

#4- Teaching the tricky stuff- Why are some kids mean? Why are our rules different from the rules of other kids? Why can't we give all our friends kisses?

#3- Nothing is ever clean. Pee in the carpet, hand-prints on everything made of glass, the never ending propagation of dirty clothes and dishes...

#2- Potty training. Good gracious.

#1-The biggest challenge is constantly having to put the kids first, whether that means sacrificing precious hours of sleep or surrendering the pizza slice with the most toppings per square inch.


My 5 biggest Joys:

#5- Helping them learn new skills

#4- Being welcomed with ear to ear smiles and bouncing

#3- The funny things they say (today Dominic learned how to say, "for shame!")

#2- Kisses and hugs

#1- The first time he walks up to a kid in the playground and says, "Hi, my name is Dominic! This is Mami!"


The wonderful thing about parenting is that any one of those joys can ease the frazzled nerves of a multitude of challenges. Childhood is such a short phase of life. It's the subtleties of childhood that make it so wonderful and so spiritually necessary: their fascination with the world around them, their unguarded affection, their carefree faith. When we fail to appreciate our kids because we are too stressed it is as much a detriment to ourselves as to our kids. To all the moms out there, Happy Mother's Day! May you be as much a blessing to your children as God intended them to be to you!


¹⁶Be joyful always; ¹⁷pray continually; ¹⁸give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.