“Mommy, look at this,” my youngest exclaimed as he shoved his Mario action figure in my face.
“Mom, my math…”
All I wanted to do was send a text message that was now four days overdue for a response, but I couldn’t seem to find the headspace or spare second to send it.
I’m sure you can relate. We’re all finding ourselves filling roles we are far from qualified for, much less, even want to fill.
Some of us are teachers, (I’m using that term very loosely), cooks, technology experts, maids, activity directors, counselors—just to name a few.
Day after day we are met with the same billowing needs from the ones who call us mom. Day after day we are bombarded with demands that don’t leave us much room for our own thoughts and feelings.
I don’t know how to be a good mom in this season.
Ever since that little blue stick read “pregnant” all I wanted was to be a good mom.
In a season that is continually redefining motherhood, good just doesn’t seem to fit.
And it’s just downright exhausting.
In the Old Testament book of Exodus, we meet a mom named Jachobed. Pharaoh decreed that all the baby boys were to be thrown into the Nile. When, Moses, her youngest child was born, she had to hide him for three months.
Let’s pause for a moment. Can you imagine hiding a baby? Me neither.
And that isn’t even the hard part.
The Bible tells us that when she couldn’t hide baby Moses any longer, she devised a plan that required her careful planning and instruction, but also required her to let go. Jachobed got a basket and placed Moses in the Nile River, so he ultimately would find safety in the arms of Egyptian royalty.
This sounds crazy to our baby-proofing crazed generation of mamas, but this was Moses’ only hope for survival.
And Jachobed was willing to do something a lot of us aren’t—let go of control.
Jochobed trusted God.
In this season of stretching, exhaustion, and unknown I don’t know that “good” should be our goal.
As most of us have discovered the hard way, we can’t possibly meet all of the nagging needs of our children. We don’t always have the words to dry their tears or the energy to make every moment memorable.
Fellow mamas, we aren’t called to be our kids’ savior, but we are called to surrender them to the Savior.
Like Jachobed, our job as moms is to let go of control and point them to their true satisfaction, Jesus.
Our job isn’t to be a good mom. Our job is to be a surrendered mom.