There are those who say that this is ordinary. But don’t let that fool you. “Mother” will always be the bravest, least ordinary, most difficult and utterly challenging career that anyone ever hopes to lay claim to.
While others might hear, “diaper-changer, food-maker, car-pooler, bottle-washer, laundry-doer, sweat pants-wearer, life-on-hold” wanna be doing anything else woman, the Truth, whether it feels like it some days or not, is that you are in fact a shelter from the storm.
You are a Cape of Good Hope.
You are a warrior who will battle for your children’s hearts, souls, attention, innocence, education and memories.
Go to battle my friends. This is your time.
We will hold strong on either side of you. We will pray over those bottles, through the dark watches of the night, when doubt comes and children break, when adults fail them, when they push and push as hard against us as that day we delivered them into the world we. will. not. be broken.
We may ache and see cracks tear through our hearts, but we will get up again tomorrow and load the clothes and the words that need to be said. Again and again and again.
And when the world tries to claw at them, to break them, to smash the beauty in them, may our walls hold true. May the lessons we’ve told, the truths we’ve lived, the life we’ve spoken into them come back easily, predictably, with wash and repeat ease.
Kingdom business. Jesus work. This shaping of souls. This raising tiny humans.
There are those that say that this is ordinary. Don’t buy that for a second.
Mighty. You are mighty, because you mother.
Amen…amen…just beautiful and words mothers need to hear over and over. It seems each generation values the art of motherhood less and less. May we speak this to one another…from one generation to the next…now that I am a grandmother…I want my granddaughters to know this too. Thanks for how you encourage young moms…blessings and grace~
Dear Lisa-Jo
Oh, that you can say again, we as mother’s are the Cape of Good Hope for our children, always battling that famous south-east wind that wants to blow everything apart! I always used to remind myself when I wanted to succumb to the lies of this world about achievements and performance, that Jesus’ mom was also “just a housewife and mother”!
Blessings XX
Mia
Love that this is today’s post ;) thank you for such powerful words!
yes and yes and yes…beautifully and transparently written – as always…you’re honest approach to writing has forever changed the way I write & blog…I’m praying it pours over into my day to day life in actions, words, & thoughts too – as Ann put on her blog today “What if no one had to dress up any better, any stronger, any braver — and we just handed out words that bless to everyone just as they are in all their real and honest messiness?
What if we weren’t about dressing up as good — but about giving the blessing now?
This changes your life and a thousand more: Only speak words that make souls stronger.”
May we always be His vessels to glorify His name and encourage one another to continue to run the race.
I love this. Thanks for posting this. I wish I thought about things like this more when mothering gets to be challenging. This was an awesome post!
This just blessed my heart. My youngest is 20 so I’m on the other side of mothering. How I would have loved to read it when my girls were young. So happy to see someone put the right value on mothering. It’s one of the blessings of blog land.
Love this. I JUST wrote about this—specifically about how going into labor is like going to war!
We are mighty warriors for our children, beginning with the push of bring our children into the world:
http://www.brianameade.com/1/post/2013/10/going-to-war-love-in-two-parts-kaiden.html
Briana
Oh, this is beautiful! Sentimental and elegant, Lisa-Jo, it brought tears to my eyes.
It is an honor to be a mother…but more than that it is a responsibility. A huge responsibility that never ends until we mothers leave this world.
These past years, after my grandchildren were becoming independent, I began nurturing my self and taking care of my own personal needs. Just when I declared my self a writer… wrote and edited a book and I was telling myself “this is my time,” Life must have thought that I needed to learn some more lessons. Again this time, my teachers would be my children and the tribulations that befell upon them.
When the thunderbolts began falling, I had to give up my plans and give my self and life back to them. I stopped writing, put a hold on my book and dreams and gave my whole attention, energy, time, and everything else I had to my family, especially my daughters, who have been hit the most. I was the only one to pull them again under my wings, to take care of, to support financially and emotionally, to inspire and encourage, to just listen and work with them to find solutions. I was the one to help my husband and their father deal with this ordeal. I became the “cape” that protected the whole family from the storm and the frost, the bad and the evil of the world. I helped all hold on to their faith and trust that there is a reason for everything and all of us could learn more about patience, understanding, supporting, sharing, trusting, and doing the best thing we can in any situation we find our selves in. Handling difficulties with grace and integrity brings us to higher spiritual maturity, whether we are daughters or mothers.
I apologize for rambling on! You touched a cord in me that I guess was supposed to make music like you. If it turned out to be noisy, Sorry!
Blessings and Light upon you and your family, Lisa-Jo
Wasn’t noisy one bit! Sweet sweet music of the mothers soul! A long distance hug for you and your giant mommy heart!
Thank you for this post! I am a mother of three children and just a few short weeks away from having our 4th! The days can be long at this stage of pregnancy… especially with three other children depending on me. It is such a blessing to be reminded that we will. not. be. broken! Amen, amen, amen! Thank you, Lisa Jo! You have blessed my heart today! May God bless yours!
Wonderful and brought me to tears with its emotion, as all your posts have. My own days of mothering young ones are now over, as my children are grown with children of their own. But you know what? We who Mother never stop Mothering. Maybe because, as I said once before, the heart of a mother knows no age. I still am a Mother – it’s who I am, who I’ve always been, who I’ll always be. From the dawn of time, there have been those of us who will love, nurture, fight, and if necessary, kill or die for those they are connected to. That is the love and faith and strength of a mother.
Amen. This was beautiful.
We will not go quietly into the night!
I am Mighty…I LOVE that! One of the things I wrestle with is Mom Guilt- worried I’m not good enough, not doing enough! But there is a difference between guilt and shame. Most often, I wear shame like by favorite hoody hot around my neck.
I’m in the midst of a week long blog series called “How to OFFload the MoM GUiLT.” http://www.amyruthwriter.com
Thought you and your readers would also share in this similar struggle we mammas can bear but don’t have to!
Thanks for being a light!