Don’t be afraid to feel all the feels that Mother’s Day brings up for you! (this picture is from 2009)

Our children’s childhood goes by so fast. It feels like forever when you are in the trenches, but all of a sudden you look up and they have gone from 5 to 15 to 25. Mother’s day always brings up some big feelings for me. The babies we have lost that are not here with us. The dreams we had that did not go the way we wanted them to for the size of our family. The feelings of failure as a mom. All of a sudden my kids are all grown up and they don’t all play three instruments and aren’t fluent in three languages (exaggeration to prove a point). The feelings of new stages and pivotal points of having young adults and only one last teenager in the house. The feeling that your “baby” is driving! How did that happen?

I think a lot of the big feelings that can come up for us on Mother’s Day are hard. We buffer by expecting all these things and are disappointed. When our day doesn’t look like “everyone” else’s on social media. Over the years, it has become a day of reflection for me. Of how I want to show up as a mom for my kids and future grand-kids. It is about the gift and challenge that God has given me as a mom. It is also a time of reflection of the path of sanctification that I have gone on as a mom and am still walking it out!

However, your reflection cannot be completely negative to be productive. There needs to be reflection on what has gone well, what has been achieved. Gratitude for the lessons and grief for the loss. Balance is needed in feeling the feels, but also shifting your mindset to make changes for the future.

I have heard so many times, ”but you are a good mom”! Is that really the truth? I am not able to be a good mom in my own strength. There is something about being honest about your shortcomings as a parent that makes people uncomfortable! There is a gospel centric position that needs to carry throughout every part of your life, including being a mother. I do not have the ability to be good on my own merit or power. It is Christ in me, that gives fruit and life. Christ in me is what motivates me to show love and grace and long-suffering and patience and all the fruits of the Spirit. A heart position of receiving life from God that can overflow out of me to those around me!