She wakes early and goes to bed late. No one really knows her schedule. There is no 9-5. No vacation pay. No sign on package. Is her work really ever finished for the day or does it just continue on to the next?
She wakes with her back aching, her knees aren't what they once were when she ran track. Her smile is still there, beautiful as ever. She no longer concentrates on the big issues of life, but asks questions like, is there is enough toilet paper. She looks beyond the roll and makes do.
She leaves her make up off and waits for the bath. She looks in the mirror and thinks, "Oh my, what shall I do?" But there is a beauty there that cannot be made up by brush nor comb. It's a sheer beauty that shines through when she hears the cry of her child, "Oh Momma, I need you".
Those lunches out and dinners with girlfriends seem like they have disappeared, but she isn't lonely. She isn't lacking joy. She isn't missing a thing. That old life holds nothing to the blessings she has today. She finds that this new life is more than she could ever have dreamed. She sees life in her children. She giggles at their antics and finds all they simple amazing. She is captivated by the light in their eye and sees that there is more to life beyond what this world tries to sell. Life is right here in the beauty of her children.
No, it's not a glamorous life. No time for phone chats. No time for those top 10 best sellers stacking up by the yard. That red dress she once wore to dinner with her husband is now hanging in the closet, replaced by jeans and t-shirts, flip flops and pony tails. It's doctor visits, library Mondays, the zoo, the park, the backyard discoveries, and more. It's piled laundry that needs attention, but there's one more book to read to that baby girl first.
Car seats and toys cover the back seat. McDonalds seems to be always in view. No, there is nothing more important than a mother's child, except the prayer that is shared from mother to Savior. Yes, it is His strength that gets her through the day. Through those tough issues of life. Those unexpected days. Even through the struggle she knows where her heart is. It's there with her children sitting in the floor with blocks and tumblers. Yes, she has learned what is far more important in life. She doesn't focus on the can not, but only on the can. For Christ fills her every need.
Those phone chats and books will come later. That red dress will pop out again. Maybe in a different size, but it will be worn again. One day when life changes forevermore. When the house is empty of chatter, but that will be years to come, because grand babies will fill the home. Yes, that empty nest is just right around the corner. She has heard for years, "Enjoy cause they grow fast", but just doesn't realize how fast, until that last car is packed and pulling out of the drive.
Oh, her life is never as it's predicted. Plans change and life alters at the first skinned knee of the day. Dinner is in the waiting. Baking ingredients are in the mixer with her children standing close. "Can I momma, Can I, peeez?"
Before her children rise, they are prayed over. She wonders if her children feel her hand brush back their bang. Do they feel as she brings the cover back up to their chest? She leaves each room with prayers filling quickly. At night when their bedroom doors are closed, she places her hand upon the wooden frame and kneels in quiet. Prayers of peace and blessings of greatness are reaching the heavens. She is never too tired to pray for her children. Some day heaven will reveal the prayers that were shared and blessings will flow as her children see past the no answers and momma knows best.
As the dishes are being readied, the wash is in the next cycle and the vacuum is waiting, her children come into view. She prays. Not knowing the need, but knows without a doubt her Savior knows. Her Savior sees beyond her vision and He is keeping watch in all the places she cannot. For she knows, as great as her love is, His is of greater depth. Oh she prays. She prays for all in their life.
She places her children first above her own needs and wants. She gives them all she did not have. She has learned from life experiences. No, she is not perfect. She is a work in progress. She too is in need of grace and forgiveness. She wonders at times what her purpose is. She wonders if there is more. Maybe she should have went after that career. Did she make the right choices?
All she has to do is look at her children and she knows. There is no greater gift in the world. No prize that could compare. The love between a mother and child cannot be broken. It is a bond of strength and one that holds pure beauty.
She finds purpose in teaching A to Z, in bringing a bow to a pony tail and zipping up that fall jacket. She sees herself in her children. She sees the glory of God being created and grown. It is then that she understands that He has been growing her through her children.
No, her work is never finished. She is a mother for life. She leaves a legacy beyond her wildest imagination through all her life has brought. She is the heart of her children. A gift of love. She is beauty.
She tries her best, but yet, still doesn't get it all right. She learns that she will make mistakes, but she will grow from each and every one. Striving to be the mother, the woman of God, she was called to become.
She tries her best, but yet, still doesn't get it all right. She learns that she will make mistakes, but she will grow from each and every one. Striving to be the mother, the woman of God, she was called to become.
"The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn His face toward you and give you peace."
Numbers 6:24-26
"Her children arise and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her."
Proverbs 31:28
