I Was A Frazzled (Not Pampered) Mom On Mothers Day

On Mothers Day, I didn't take a break from being a mother. I didn't sleep in, I didn't have breakfast in bed, I didn't run to the spa, and I didn't have flowers sent to my doorstep. Basically, Mother's Day was not a day for relishing in the commercialization of the day. On Mother's Day, I was a mom, just like any other day.

Now, there is nothing wrong with the cards, jewelry, flowers and all of the most of the overhead of the Hallmark Holiday. I certainly enjoyed the little crafts my kids made for me and a special lunch. However, I do think that somehow our culture's ideal has moms taking a break from being a mom of the second Sunday of May. Most moms know better. We are moms every day. Mother's Day isn't any different. Unfortunately many moms (me included) find ourselves needlessly disappointed because the reality of the day doesn't look like what we see in commercials. 

I can attest that there have been some years when I felt like I should just throw in the towel because, well it was that proverbial day in May and my kids didn't even care enough to set aside the sibling squabbling for just a few hours, let alone clean up their rooms without having to be nudged along through the task. Mother's Day can leave mom's feeling kinda crappy. A mom can easily feel more frazzled and unappreciated then the day before. For many women, the day can cause deep pain as they struggle with the loss of children, an unborn baby, or perhaps they desire to be a wife and mother yet are still single. On Mother's Day, we are reminded of the stuff of life, the good, the bad, and the ugly.

So on Mother's Day, I took up my vocation and all its crosses. I woke up in a great mood, you would have thought it was Christmas morning by my daughter's excitement. My family and I had breakfast and began to get ready for church. Soon the tiredness and impatience began to set in. When the kids didn't follow directions and began to whine and doing everything else but get dressed it was pretty easy to get grumpy and lose it. I didn't feel like a queen for the day, I felt like a sinner. My rest didn't come from crawling back to bed, it came from dragging myself to church to hear that my sin are forgiven.

For many of us the standards of Mother's Day leave us feeling frazzled as if something magical should take over for the day, but reality set in. The normal things we do daily, like caring for our kids, changing diapers, doing dishes, can seem like bothersome tasks in our desire to be spoiled it easy to think that of all days we should not have to do them. Then the rubber hits the road when on all days an appliance breaks. Then suddenly we feel like crap because it's Mother's Day and we deserve better.  It can be so easy to spend the next week wallowing in our self-pity.

Mother's Day is a day for normal life. Just like every other day our Old Adam seeks to wear us down and steal away the joy of our vocations. As a mother, I am called to love my neighbors, my husband, and my kids, in that task. The job is a blessing, but the Old Adam would rather have moms feeling like the job is a burden. For me, the lie of the devil is that I am not really all that appreciated. Oh, how easily I believe the lie. Oh, how tempting it is to take it all for granted.

In the restoration of Christ, however, the burden becomes light. He takes the struggles and sins of motherhood to the cross. He lifts us up with words of comfort and peace. Christ restores, through His gifts, the soul of mothers, fathers, and children, so that we can serve each other in faithfulness, love, and joy on Mother's Day and every day.

So yes when being a mom is a task that has me pretty much frazzled day in and day out it's good to know that in Christ I have the freedom to cherish the task and ponder the moments with my family in my heart.