To My Fellow Moms at Christmas

Dear MOPS Mamas,

In the past, Mondays on the blog have been used to record our mom fails - those ridiculous moments when we find ourselves in over our heads, when all we can do is throw up our hands and admit defeat. You may wonder: Why glorify mom fails? Why not celebrate all of those small, rarely acknowledged tasks that we do well? I have an answer, but the answer is sad. The answer is this: because our successes feel, to us, unspectacular. They are, after all, just duties: feeding children, wiping bottoms, folding laundry, providing transportation to school and activities.

Our days, in fact, are filled with work well done, if only we could see it that way. Have you, today, wrapped your child in a loving embrace, kissed their soft cheeks, looked at them with a gaze dripping with a love as heavy and sweet as syrup? I call this a mom win.

In the past 24 hours, have you had cause to correct your child and straighten his path to walk more like Jesus? Have you prayed with her? Have your words modeled kindness? Have your hands and heart put others first? Then you are doing precisely what you were made to do.

If you have prepared a meal, cleaned a spill, wiped a tear, each of these is a success. If you have found a moment, in the midst of all the demands placed on you, to care for yourself, you are doing well.

Take heart, mamas. Your successes far outweigh your failures. Even when you feel low and unappreciated, too soft in the middle, too frustrated by your kids, too short with your spouse, too busy, too tired, too overwhelmed, you are enough. You are the person your children need. You are the person they love - not the version of yourself you dream of becoming, if only you had more time or more resolve. The you you are right now. 

Take a breath. Love in, self-judgment out. Smile. We are on this journey together, thank God, and we will hold one another up and remind one another that life really is filled with joy. This is what MOPS is for, and I am so, so grateful to have this community.

Merry Christmas, all you remarkable women. My wish for you is that you see yourselves that way.