my ministry

Today, I'm adding a post from last year.

Because today all my time and attention is into being a Mommy.

I've been treating this gift, this privilege of motherhood, as a job.

A bone wearying, exhausting, overwhelming round the clock job.

And what a disservice I have done.

God is teaching me, showing me in so many creative ways, that motherhood is a ministry.

Not just any ministry.

The most important service I can do for my King Eternal.

And it's changing my attitude.

It's changing how I view dirty dishes, sleepless nights, and discipline issues.

It's challenging how I spend any spare moment, and how I react if there are no spare moments.

It's filling me with renewed purpose.

And thankfulness.  So much thankfulness.

From last year:

Motherhood--God's Idea!

Listen, Lord,

a mother’s praying

low and quiet:

listen, please.

Listen what her tears

are saying,

see her heart

upon its knees;

lift the load

from her bowed shoulders

till she sees

and understands,

You, Who hold

the worlds together,

hold her problems

in Your hands.

-Ruth Bell Graham

There is so much my heart wants to say about motherhood.  So much.  There is nothing like carrying life within us.  There is nothing like the life our children give to us in return.  There is a beauty in motherhood, a glorious, sacrificial gift that God decided to bless woman with.  Yes, we were the first to bring death into our world (remember Eve).  But God, in his graciousness, made us life givers!  Ours was a great sin, but God gave us even greater mercy.  The amazing mercy of motherhood. 

It is so wonderful to know that motherhood is an incredible GIFT from Him.  There is no greater joy than to be fulfilling the calling of God upon my life.  This is my purpose, it is what I was created for--to be a mother who loves her God, who loves her family, and who loves her world.   To be a mother who raises her children to love their God and to love their families.  To be a mother who loves.

I posted a poem from Ruth Graham because I am always so inspired by the way she embraced her role as a mother.  She walked out her Kingdom Calling with grace and fortitude.  The path of motherhood is not an easy one, it is one that is tread with the heart, and often the heart gets tread on.  Motherhood is one of God's chosen descriptions of sacrificial love. 

After reading her poem, I felt God begin to whisper His answer to it's prayer.  Here is the poem he gave me in response:

I hear each prayer,

See every task

performed in love,

in selfless acts.

It is you I have

entrusted life to.

Life to carry, hold

and see through.

Know that you are

blessed my daughter,

for it is you I have

called to be

a mother.

Happy Mother's Day to you!

May the Peace of Christ rule in your hearts and minds and may you abandon yourself to this great calling!