Mothering

Thursday, August 23, 2012
Mothering
Now that my "official" mothering days are over (I'll always be a mother, but the children are now gone from my daily service), I am thankful to say that God blessed me with 8 unusual, unique, funny, challenging, and rewarding gifts.  I will not feel sorry for myself, I now have others to give more time to, and I am so grateful for the 35 years of being able to be at home with my "bairns" (as my maternal grandmother called them). At least one of them, maybe 2 will be home next summer  because they're in college now, but it will be a different dynamic here at 3693 Sable Palm Lane. I want to encourage younger moms to stay at home as much as possible because it's the "being there" whenever they need you that makes a huge difference to them.  My uncle Tom Howard said that his mother was always "there" and that brought great comfort and security to him and his 5 siblings.  I sometimes left for a few days to speak somewhere, and was kindly allowed by my husband to do that, because he was usually able to stay with the kids, as well as have the older ones helping.  But when I came home, I was always aware of how much I was missed, and I felt guilty for leaving at all.  The preparation and the coming home were the hardest parts of leaving to speak.  While I was at the speaking engagement (sometimes a retreat, and sometimes just an evening), I knew the Lord was my helper and gave me joy in the retelling of my story, and joy in encouraging and meeting other women whose lives were so similar in needs as mine.  We were mothers trying to be perfect, and God was showing us, and still does that He is the only Perfect One, and we are to rest in His righteousness, not our accomplishments.

This article is excellent (http://www.desiringgod.org/blog/posts/motherhood-as-a-mission-field), which I  found on Kirk Cameron's website, and was happy to see that he's a follower of John Piper.  My mother also taught me that doing the "little things" for God without being noticed by anyone, was my life laid down for the family, as well as my life given to His will.  I'm so thankful that she spoke of "faithfulness in little things" and it has been a life-long lesson for me to persevere in taking care of the little things that most people take for granted.  I have a natural tendency to want to ignore the everyday maintenance of those little things, and it is only by the Holy Spirit's still small voice that I am reminded that I should not ignore those things.  And, "Do the next thing" was my mother's motto also.  I often hear in my mind a quiet reasoning or argument that I must go do that thing, and my natural self is giving a reason why I should do it later, and not NOW.  If I don't do it then,  I later realize that if I had done it when I heard the small voice, it would have been exactly the right time.  I praise Him that He is in the process of conforming me to the image of Christ, and I often see how unnecessary it is for me to argue in my mind or to procrastinate, when it's in the little things that He is giving me to practice laying down my life.

Let your your mind  dwell on His holiness and His sacrifice for you , and you will be helped to live sacrificially for others.  Take one day at a time and let the day's trouble be SUFFICIENT for the day. Don't add on the work or the worries of tomorrow.  Those are in God's hands!