You should know I'm writing this in a flour-crusted T-shirt and pair of jeans that are stained - already. {It's only 12:30.} You just need to know this. I have about five minutes before lunch time erupts into anarchy and we hurry my five-year-old off to Kindergarten. Today feels hard and rushed, like everything is pushing back against me.
These days are exhausting. And seemingly never-ending. I usually finish my days at about 9 o'clock at night, after very full days, passed out on the couch w/ an empty pint of Ben & Jerry's by my side. That's how full, how sometimes stress-filled, and how over-loaded the calendar can be.
I caught myself {or maybe He caught me} a few months back telling my kids, "*fake expletive* - you're just so needy." Half-kidding... half-not.
That's when it hit me, the stillness of God and His grace against the wall of a wayward heart, with truths that aim to stop death in its tracks:
"Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’" - - Matthew 25:34-40
One of the greatest things we are charged with in the Kingdom of God, is to care for the poor and needy. Maybe young children, in their need, are simply overlooked on the world's tipped scale of what's 'valuable' or 'meaningful' or 'worthy' of our time... this season itself for them is 'neediness'.
Am I there to meet them, eagerly, with kindness and compassion on my lips, and joy in these hands?
{This may be one of the hardest laps in our race (Heb. 12:1), but it's formative in theirs.}
Moms, you matter.
There is still a place for you here; you are valued {more than you know}.
As a friend said this week - "you need to keep going".
You need to keep going, stay-at-home mom w/ little kids.
As another friend said this week - "the work you're doing matters."
Moms, the work we're doing matters.
*Rest* knowing you are serving the humble God of the universe who Himself came to serve - often in obscurity.
"In a world of pretense and platforms..." (B. Moore) there is *rest* in serving others, sick and wounded, weak or poor as they are, and in doing so serving the God who sees (Gen. 16:13), the God who is for us (Rom. 8:31), and the God who exalts those who seek to make themselves low (Matt. 23:12).
Your reward is coming friend; don't give up.