It happened again today. Just like it does 5 days per week nearly 52 weeks of the year. My heart sank as I dropped my kids off to be cared for by someone else.
I am so grateful for the excellent care our kids receive, the social skills they are developing and that they are learning to trust other adults. But can I make a confession? Being a working mom is harder than any job I have ever had. And it’s not the practical stuff of balancing a full-time job with cleaning, cooking, putting the kids to bed and dealing with the commute (although that is plenty challenging). It’s living a life that is in complete contradiction to my greatest desire: to be a stay-at-home or even a work-at-home mom.
I struggle. I have always been career-driven. So this feeling of wanting to be HOME more hours of the day seems foreign. That’s what motherhood did to me. It turned my everything upside down – and for the better. I have never felt so comfortable in my own skin as when I am nurturing my kiddos.
Our children – they will be under our roof for such a short time and I want to love on them, teach them and show them grace for as many waking hours as I am able. Can you relate? Is there something about your work-life balance that seems like a constant struggle?
Will you join me in hanging on to these two truths?
Truth #1: I Can Trust God with my Kids
As Lisa-Jo Baker reminded us in one of my favorite blog posts, I can trust our God to be with our kids 100% of the time. After all, they really are gifts to us from Him. There is no safer place to be than with Him.
No matter what the circumstances or who is caring for our kids, God will grace them with people and experiences to grow them into just the people He designed them to be with the influences He wants them to have on this side of heaven.
Truth #2: I Can Trust God with Me!
God knows my heart. He created it, complete with my stay-at-home mom desires. He embraces us in our wrestling and we can trust Him with our hearts and what He is doing in our lives, working outside OR inside of the home.
We may not always understand why He allows us to be in a place that feels so contradictory to how we feel, but let’s remember that we can Trust Him more than our very own hearts.
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.” ~ Proverbs 3:5-6
Can we rest in this truth, seek Him in the process and simply trust that he is working things together for good?
Life comes in seasons. This is one of them. It will pass.
I am constantly reminded by my wise mama friends that our kids will never be this little again. Can I encourage your heart, along with my own, to cherish these days no matter how closely aligned they are with your greatest desires?
Pause. Love. Cherish. Embrace. Soak it all in. These little lives are precious and God gifted them to us. Let us love them well during all the seasons of our lives, and trust our great God to handle the details.
What truths do you hang on to when life seems to be running in what feels like the wrong direction?
