The cleaning up house.
The grocery shopping.
The reading stories.
The feeding meals.
The correcting.
The encouraging.
The school projects (heaven help us).
All. Of. It. Matters.
The day to day comings and goings are the very places we get to show where our hope is stacked. My imperfect moments do not overshadow my big picture mothering.
My kids need to see a mom who needs help, not a mom who appears to have all her ducks lined up in instagram form.
What a disservice, when we offer false reality to our kiddos…this will not play out well when they get married and understand the harsh realities of day to day life. They just might hate us for it.
Your kids aren’t looking for what to do, they are watching for how to do it and why.
Of course I’ve had moments of wishing my childhood did or didn’t include certain chapters…but God has used every element in my life to His glory.
That flashback of me being the one in the back seat as my own mom took a break and drove around, reminded me of the importance not in perfection, but in connection.
God can and will use our tiny and extravagant mothering efforts to show His loving hand…especially if those efforts include Sandi Patty from the back seat of the family Buick.
You just never know what memories will be etched in the hearts of your kids, so live life in a way that includes them in the seemingly dull and “fill up the time” spaces.
Those might be the moments when they experience genuine hope for the years to come.
~Jenny
This article originally appeared at NightHowells.wordpress.com.
