Every other Thursday I get to meet with other moms at my local MOPS group. I love it! It's just a little time for us to get together to grow and support one another while knowing that our kids are in good hands in the nursery.
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This week's speaker read an excerpt from God's Whisper in a Mother's Chaos by Keri Wyatt Kent which I thought was really encouraging. I hope it encourages all of you as well.
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Time alone with God can help us grow, but so can serving others. Instead of feeling guilty about how little time alone I get, I need to look at how I can connect with God in the midst of my chaos.
I spend most of my day serving two little cute but very needy people. I have opportunities galore to practice patience and gentleness when they spill, dawdle, forget, spill... I have opportunities to show my love in tangible actions like making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches or kissing boo-boos. These moments "count" for spiritual growth.
We tend to think that only deep quiet contemplation or perhaps serving on a mission trip or volunteering in the church office "counts" in God's eyes. Nothing could be further from the truth, and nothing could be more defeating to a mother who finds that taking care of her children feels like almost all she can do.
This is the good news for mothers: the grungy, seemingly insignificant serving you do - cleaning up messes, wiping noses (and other body parts), preparing meals, dressing, undressing and bathing your kids - all of these things count in God's eyes. You are engaging fully in the discipline of service. If you can begin to view it as such, every little part of your day can be a way to connect with God.
And all the parts of mothering that you love, like the way they fly into your arms when you get home from work or cuddling with a bedtime story or drying their tears, those count too. They please the heart of God.
And God is not deducting points on some giant tally sheet in Heaven because you missed your "quiet time." He's watching the way you trim the crust off the peanut butter and jelly sandwich and cut it in triangles because that's how your toddler likes it, and he's saying, "Well done, good and faithful servant."
