1 Mother 2 Another

Over the past couple of weeks I’ve
read a few really inspiring blogs by other moms and I finally just
need to share them with you guys. Seriously good stuff.


First, href="http://inspiredtoaction.com/2013/03/the-problem-with-being-supermom-and-how-to-fix-it/"
target="_blank">The Problem With Being Supermom and How To Fix
It at target="_blank">Inspired Action. Her opening sentence
struck a deep chord with me:


“I’ve finally realized why it is I try to be Supermom.
It’s because I can’t decide what is most important so I
just try to do it all…which is impossible and leaves me
feeling defeated. Rinse. Repeat.


The root of my desire to do everything is actually indecisiveness.
“


Ouch, right? Yes, that’s definitely me – not able to
always sort out what’s important, so trying to do it all, so
failing. A LOT.

But then I read href="http://www.chattingatthesky.com/2013/03/18/what-a-hundred-lifeguards-taught-me-about-my-calling/"
target="_blank">What 100 Lifeguards Taught Me About My
Calling at target="_blank">Chatting at the Sky, and she reminded me
that I don’t HAVE to do everything. I don’t HAVE to be
everything to everyone. I don’t have to police the whole
pool: my job is to keep my eyes on the small corner of the pool
that God’s given me, and trust that He’s got other
people covering the other areas. That are not. My. Job.


At target="_blank">Keeper of the Home today I was knocked over
the head by href="http://www.keeperofthehome.org/2013/04/10-truths-you-need-to-hear-when-you-feel-like-a-failure-as-a-mom.html"
target="_blank">10 Truths You Need to Hear When You Feel Like A
Failure As A Mom. I think I’m going to need to print
them off and have handy for one of “those” days.


And finally, I read href="http://momastery.com/blog/2013/04/08/eshet-chayil-woman-of-valor-or-how-i-learned-the-hebrew-equivalent-of-carry-on-warrior/"
target="_blank">Eshet Chayil, or Women of Valor! At href="http://www.momastery.com" target="_blank">Momastery,
and learned that in Proverbs 31 – that oh-so-hard little
chapter about a woman who makes her family’s clothes and
scrubs the house top to bottom and sells real estate and puts a
home-cooked meal on the table and never lets her kids eat
high-fructose-corn-syrup (you get the picture) the woman
isn’t actually called a “woman of virtue”: a
better translation is “woman of valor”. And that
traditional Jewish cultures look on that chapter not as an
impossible standard to be lived up to (or measured against and
found wanting), but as a blessing a husband should say to his wife
– a sort of “thank you for how well you take care of
all our lives.”


And as for “Eshet Chayil”? Today, that phrase would
roughly sound something like “You go, girl!”


So keep your eyes on your corner of the pool, remember you
don’t have to be Supermom, and you ARE a Woman of Valor! The
next time your girlfriend rocks a PTA project or helps her kid
through a tough moment out in public, pump your fist in the air and
yell “Woman of Valor!” at her. And remember, it takes a
lot of courage to be a mom, to stick with it day in and day out.


So I’ll leave you with one of my favorite quotes about
courage, from Mary Anne Radmacher:


“Courage doesn’t always roar. Sometimes courage is the
little voice at the end of the day that says I’ll try again
tomorrow.”


Let’s cut ourselves some slack, O Women of Valor.