My babies are growing up...as they should...but still, I marvel at it all - - how a young girl can dream about marriage and the babies that will someday come, and then how someday comes and goes way too fast. I look forward to the years ahead with great anticipation, but now with just a tinge of sadness, knowing how rapidly the time will go.
Bittersweet. That's what it is.
I love that verse in the Bible that says, "But Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart." She weighed all that she was hearing about the Child to come...the past, the present, and the future...keeping them as "heart treasures", only to herself.
It's in the pondering that I feel so connected to her, drawn to the woman who had such trust in God that she said yes to bringing forth His Son, without hesitation. It's like she knew she was made for that very reason! In the moment the angel spoke, my guess is that great purpose settled upon her heart. The heart that had always known received its long-awaited confirmation.
I know deep down that mothering is and always has been a part of my purpose as well. Like Mary, I ponder the mystery and the magic of it all...the past, the present, and things to come. The fact that I might be chosen to have such a calling is too much for me at times. I wake up every day humbled that I get to be a mother.
Don't let the world tell you, my sweet friend and fellow-mother, that any part of your service is commonplace. IT IS NOT.
It is part of your calling and what a high-calling it is! Your precious, pondering heart knows it well!
So run the race with diligence, knowing that God is smiling on you in this journey, my friend. When you fill hungry bellies, soothe hurting hearts, dry sloppy tears, clean grass-stained clothes, recite math facts, drill memory verses, sacrifice so that they can have, and go to bed exhausted for the thousandth time, do it with joy, for you, my friend, have honored your God. He has invited you into this service to Him and you, daily, are answering His call.
We don't know much about the every-dayness of Mary's life as a young mother...but I can assure you, she was doing practically the same things you are. She served her sweet little Jesus-boy and loved Him to the core of her being. She made sure His every need was taken care of. She held Him and nurtured Him and rocked Him to sleep...I'm sure still pondering the majesty of it all in her heart.
God knew Jesus needed Mary.
God knows your children need you.
So kill the doubts - - you are enough. Shut out the discouraging ones - - their opinions don't matter. Quiet the comparisons - - you are uniquely gifted for your family. Cease the worrying - - you, and your children, are in the palm of His mighty hand!
I pray, today, that as you look into the faces of your children - - though they be tiny and new, or older and worn - - you'll get a glimpse of your purpose and wonder at the majesty of it all.
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