By Contributing Writer, Lisa Roberts
There are those days–you know the ones–when we compare ourselves to other moms. Maybe it’s in those commercials (or someone you know personally) where we see a beautiful mother beaming in her spotless, magazine cover house with her angelic toddlers in perfectly matched outfits. While our blessing and our calling is to keep our homes and be good stewards of what we have, sometimes we believe the lie that our home, our children, and we need to be a bit more perfect than God requires.
We tend to allow ourselves to see what we might fall short on or what we don’t accomplish instead of seeing the cup half full.
Well the truth and the beauty is, the most human of us often have days where we are running to turn down the macaroni and cheese that’s boiling over next to the breakfast dishes, and on the way we’ll trip over three toys and a basket of wash, and while the littles are napping, we’ll have to make the executive decision to either sit and rest, catch up on the mess we just tripped over, or get a shower and maybe even fix our hair. Then there’s that career–if you have one of those.
No pressure.
But we have our hearts aimed at Jesus and He presses us on. Our homes are truly His, and if we give them back to Him with open hands, He provides. I believe He has better home building skills than I do anyway!
I choose to measure my success with mud pies in my yard, daisies and dandelions on my windowsill, fingerprints on my walls, and little dirty shoes piled at my door. I’m breathless at the beauty of sun splashed faces in summer, the smell of sunscreen and the feel of a beach towel wrapped tight around a child and squeezed in a hug.
I can laugh as I see yet another trail of autumn leaves dragged in from raked up piles in the breezy yard and gathering on my kitchen floor. I pray I am delighted by the sweetness of noses and fingers pressed to my windows in excitement over the first snow, rosy cheeks, and puddles under snow boots on my floor.
I want to save in my mind, pictures of their young faces, perfectly beautiful, still innocent and unaware of the hurt in the world around them. I hold tight in my heart the sound of their tiny voices calling me mommy and the giggles that come from a place so deep in their soul that it feels fresh with heaven. I treasure the times my hands hold onto their tiny, dimpled fingers, and most of all, their tiny arms as soft as God’s whispers wrapped around my neck in a hug that heals every part of my being.
I am grateful each time I talk about the important things with my young adults and I see that they are reaching for truth–even the times when it’s hard for them to accept those truths, I see that their hearts are good. I anticipate with joy the days to come when they will look me in the eyes as a grown up and as a part of my heart before me in another human soul.
My cup is overflowing.
“You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.
Psalm 23:5-6
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About lisa
This is a timely, lovely reminder. Often I disengage, specifically from the media and online world, so I can simply turn my focus back to Him and not at all of my perceived failures and weaknesses. I too want to cling to the present memories, the present moments and not the messes and the less than perfect home. Thank you for bringing the words together.