(Hi all. Originally, this post was intended for a small group of younger mom friends I try to encourage and meet up with from time to time. But it got too long for a FB post so I thought I would make it a blog post instead and share it here. I hope you’ll forgive the less formal format 😉.)

Hi friends. How are you spending your weekend? Since I have a quiet house and some alone-time this weekend I am getting lots of reading done. (No hating please! There is a point to my sharing. 🙃)

If you are already cultivating a reading life (or just want to someday) you probably like seeing what others are reading. I wanted to show you my weekend book stack. A few chapters in each will get me through them all eventually. Some will take months, some a few weeks, one or two I’ll finish in a few days. I binge read half of Book Girl last weekend so I’m pretty sure I’ll finish that one. It’s hard to put down. 😍

Anyway, the reason I’m telling you this is because sometimes I come across something while I’m reading that makes me want to stop to call you all up individually and read the same words to you. That’s how I felt yesterday while reading Mission of Motherhood. I wanted to have you over, pour you a cup of tea, light a candle, feed you chocolate, and wave a magic wand to make all your kids be still and silent for half an hour while I point to the page and say, “Do you have any idea how much what you’re doing matters? I know you hear it from time to time, but do you truly believe it? Being a mother is the hardest best job there is. I’ve almost raised six so I truly do know how hard and best. My life’s verse makes that evident. ‘Do not become weary in doing good for in due season you will reap a harvest if you don’t give up’.” Gal. 6:9

With tears in my eyes I would gently take your face in my hands and tell you that what you do – all things little – absolutely matters! And us moms of olders? We need the same reminder, especially when none of what we’re doing seems to be getting through or making a difference anyway. (That’s another mom lie we believe.)

Oh my goodness though, what you’re doing is making a difference and it does matter! It matters to your kids, your future grandkids, and to your legacy you will one day leave your children and grandchildren. And it matters to God. Do you truly know how valuable you and your role are to His design for the family?

Motherhood? That was HIS design. No one values our role as mothers more than God does. The enemy has long since done what he could to make us fall for the lies of the world’s devalued version of motherhood.

When you’re so very worn out, putting one foot in front of the other, barely surviving at times, it is so easy to get lost in mommy-zombie-land and lose sight of the eternal importance of what you do and why you’re doing it.

At times we may think surely there must be more to life than wiping up one more mess, wiping one more snotty little nose or one more dirty little rear end, cooking another meal, washing one more dish, one more load of clothes, scrubbing the toilet. Again. It can all seem so monotonous and mundane!

But I think sometimes we forget what Jesus’ ministry here on earth looked like. He was continually meeting needs, cleaning up messes and the people who made them. He knew what we as moms feel, constantly being pulled in different directions, trying to meet a seemingly endless barrage of needs.

Being kind, benevolent Jesus, He looked at all those interruptions as opportunities to serve. He lived his life as a servant-leader, modeling for us what it looks like to constantly (and ultimately) lay down His life for others, serving them with a heart of love, tenderness, and grace.

As well as meeting needs and serving others, Jesus knew the blessing and encouragement of regularly spending time with those closest to him, sharing His heart and listening to theirs. He walked and talked with them, laughed and cried with them, shared meals with them, and spent time in their homes. Friendships were important to Jesus and He devoted time to nurturing those relationships.

He also placed top priority on finding a quiet place of solitude for the purpose of prayer and rest. When we read about Jesus’ life we see that He was very intentional about this. Compassionate Jesus, the ultimate need-meeter, knowing the importance of and His own need for prayer and rest, would slip away from the crowds and all the people demanding one more thing from Him, even from his close circle of friends, to seek the heart of His Father.

If Jesus felt the need for regular times of being alone with His Father, and placed such importance on prayer, rest, time in the Word, moments of refreshing, and time with friends why is it then that we think we can keep on going and keep on giving and pouring ourselves out without it? Jesus has Living Water to offer. We as moms must follow His example by daily nurturing our own souls with what fills us back up (I’m talking small here, like lighting a candle, buying a $5 bouquet at the grocery store, laughing at your kids – or yourself – more often, getting lost for a few minutes in a favorite home decor or cooking magazine, opening a curtain to take a glimpse of your favorite tree, flowers, or the sun peeking through a gray cloud, hiding in the laundry room to eat a cookie without sharing, taking a walk, starting a gratitude journal to write something you’re thankful for at the end of each day, playing your favorite music while making lunch; insert here whatever fills you or breathes life into you – do more of it), activities, things and people that fill our hearts to overflowing so that we will have something from which others can draw. No more running on empty! It’s not sustainable.

Remember, as you go about your day meeting the needs of your family you are tending what matters for eternity. God says in Matthew 25:40 that whatever we do for the least of these we do for Him.

Your children mean everything to Him. And so do you. You matter. What you do matters. Every little thing. Every single day. All of it. IM-POR-TANT. He sees, and He is blessed and glorified because of it.

Love & Prayers,

Becky