"We are molding the future"We really are, this is a huge responsibility. We are responsible for creating well-rounded, contributing members of society. We are responsible for bringing up our children in Christ and sharing the Gospel with them. We are their earliest influence when it comes to Christianity and we need to take that seriously. We need to be examples of what that means and we need to instill in them a love for God.
As moms we tend to get overwhelmed by the everyday (and never ending) tasks of laundry, housework, meal prep and clean up, helping the kids, cleaning up the kids, refereeing, correcting, and counseling our children. We get into a rut and feel that there has to be something better, something for us to look forward to. I am realizing it is all in our attitude. If I start out the day a bit cranky, than all of these things will seem so unimportant and mundane and I will get the feeling that I am just mom. If I can start my day in a good mood than these tasks feel completely different, I don't seem to mind them so much and actually feel more motivated to get everything done.
We have to let go of the mindset that society says:
"We are putting our real careers on hold".Being a mom is not a sabbatical from our "real" careers. Being mom is my career now. I really found help in Eyster's words,
"Being a mom is not a less than choice, its not about what I'm not doing, but about what I am doing".I have a very important role in my family, it is the reason my family functions, the reason there is cooked food on the table, the reason there are clean clothes in the drawer, the reason my children are taught school everyday, the reason the baby is not in a dirty diaper all day. I am caring for my children, my most precious commodities. I am making life easier for my husband, I am making it able that he can leave the home and go to work everyday then come home and be fed and well cared for. I have the most important career there is.
One thing in today's culture that really irritates me is the idea of "me time." I find this to be a truly selfish desire. Usually people are not content in what their life is and feel they are entitled to selfish time, where they need to only care about themselves. I find this terrible. I do think you need to have something that is a joy to you outside of your daily tasks, but not necessarily time to yourself all the time. Eyster, brought this thought into my head with her words,
"You haven't lost yourself; you've found who you were destined to be".Why is being a mom not good enough for so many people? Why do they look down on us?
Later today I am going to work on "The Plan" suggested in this chapter:
1. "Mom Uniform" - wear what makes you look and feel good. Right now I am 8 months pregnant, nothing makes me look good, things are uncomfortable and tight, so right now sweatpants on days we stay home are my uniform, haha.
2. "Create a schedule with white space" - The white space is for unexpected things that come up. I think I need to do this, just so I know what I need to get done and so we stay on track better. The La-Dee-Da days are not working for keeping us on task lately.
3. "Eat Meals" - the idea being missing meals = hunger = grouchy. I will try to eat at a reasonable time, not just once I get everything else done.
4. "When kids nap do something to relax" - I do this! Yay me! I realized a couple months ago that I needed to use this time to refresh, instead of catching up on other chores. Actually, it was when all the issues with this pregnancy started and I had to sit whenever I got the opportunity. Thank you to a tremendous group of online friends I have, I have found a love for knitting! So, while kids nap I eat my lunch (I'll try to eat earlier now) and then knit. Ironically, most of my knitting is for my kids, though, haha.
5. "Physical Activity everyday" - never thought about this. We are pretty active but could stand to be more intentional about it. We can all get our silly's out.
6. "Smile and Giggle, create a home full of cheer" - we need to have more fun, on purpose.
7. "Quiet time for you with the kids" - This is something we've recently discovered on our own too. Everynight after dinner and piano practice, the kids assemble at the table for a bedtime snack and we do a Read Aloud together. It has really helped to wind down before bed instead of the running around and wrestling used to.
To conclude today's lessons (I have a lot to do later to implement these things) Eyster has drawn me to 2 Corinthians 4:1 - Therefore, since through God's mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart. God has given me 3 (almost 4) beautiful children and has given me the opportunity not only to stay home with them daily but also to homeschool them, I need not lose heart.
For His Glory!
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