Are you a tired mom?
Tired of the noise, of being asked a million questions, of playing referee? Are you weary of having a child constantly following you everywhere? Tired of doing tasks you have to turn around and do again—making meals, washing and drying and folding those never-ending loads of laundry? Cleaning a house that immediately gets messy again?
The list for a mom goes on and on.
Yes, we love our husbands and children and home, but we just want a break from it all. We can’t seem to live up to the expectations we have constructed for ourselves, especially in a world where everyone lives their best life online. And we find our hearts crying out, “What about me? This just isn’t what I thought being a wife or mom would look like.” We don’t want to voice our real thoughts and questions, though, fearing others will think we are selfish, that somehow we love our kids less. But that just isn’t true.
Let me encourage you, Sweet Mama. You aren’t the only one who has felt this way. We all feel discouraged, disheartened, and disillusioned sometimes. And those feelings can get quite intense. We simply get tired. Physically, emotionally, and spiritually tired.
Sweet Mama, you need to rest.
GOD CREATED YOU WITH A NEED FOR REST
I know you are busy! But making time to rest can actually be a gift to yourself and your family. You will never be as patient or loving as you desire when you walk in a constant state of exhaustion. And every problem will feel monumental. Fatigue tends to distort reality in our minds.
1. GOD CREATED US AND KNOWS US.
Years ago when we bought a new car, the owner’s manual instructed us to not use the cruise control for a certain number of miles. Instead it said to vary our speed a bit while driving so that we would get the best gas milage later on. That made no sense to me. But, guess what? I don’t design cars. And I obviously didn’t make the one we were driving. So I decided to trust the owner’s manual. Why? Because it was written by the maker of the car—the ones who designed it, the ones who knew how to get the best performance from it.
No one knows you better than the one who created you, the one who designed you.
Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.’
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. (Genesis1:26-27, ESV)
Psalm 139 reveals the wonderful, intimate knowledge God has of us. He searches and knows us—when we sit and rise. He knows our very thoughts. Our words before we speak them. Verses 13-16 continues,
For you formed my inward parts;
you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works;
my soul knows it very well.
My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes saw my unformed substance;
in your book were written, every one of them,
the days that were formed for me,
when as yet there was none of them. (ESV)
2. OUR FATHER SET AN EXAMPLE FOR US.
In Genesis 2:1-3, we see our Father lead by example,
Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation. (ESV)
Do you really think God needed rest? I don’t think so, but He knew we did. And so He set the example, and instructed us to rest, too. Jesus even states, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. (Mark 2:27).
Just as our heavenly Father is our example, we will model for our children what is good for them, too. Do you want to set the example of one who is always tired, overwhelmed, and irritable? Or do you want your children to learn how to live this life in a healthy and intentional way? Choosing what is best over what is popular or even good?
3. HE COMMANDS US TO REST.
Don’t miss the fact that Jesus said the Sabbath was made for man. It is for us, Dear Moms.
