The Gift of Motherhood
While I enjoy many holidays throughout the year, there is only one that I feel is especially for me; and that is Mother’s Day.
I love celebrating holidays (Thanksgiving and Christmas, just to name a few!) and birthdays and having a grand time getting together with family.
I remember year after year, after year, watching other women be able to enjoy this special day. I would often think “Do they truly understand this gift they were so freely given?”, while I sat barren and childless.
I was thankful that other mothers were able to enjoy the presence of their children and were able to celebrate being given such a high calling in life! What an absolute honor for my friends and family to be able to experience this. But there were times that it hurt. It felt painful.
Any woman that has craved to be a Mother, whether it has been several months, or several years, will understand the thought process. I know you will understand when I say that I was happy and discouraged at the same time.
I am thankful that the Word of God says in Psalms 113:9 “He maketh the barren woman to keep house, and to be a joyful mother of children. Praise ye the Lord.” The Contemporary English Version says it like this “When a wife has no children, he blesses her with some, and she is happy. Shout praises to the Lord!” Through this verse, we have the assurance that God will bless us with children!
When our surprise showed up and we found out that we were expecting, I was able to announce our pregnancy to our family and friends on Mother’s Day! I could not have planned it better myself. It was finally here. My day. A time to acknowledge what I had longed to become for so long. The gift of being a Mother.
The Celebration of Motherhood
The celebration does not just happen on one day of the year. It happens every morning when I walk into my child’s room and he looks up at me with sweet, sleepy eyes and says “Hi Mommy”. It happens when I rock him to sleep at night, or hear my husband rocking him to sleep and praying sweet prayers over our son.
The celebration of Motherhood is a beautiful gift that we get to experience each day. It is the highest calling that God could place on us, and entrust us to carry to the best of our ability. I often think that I am so mightily blessed that God would give me such a precious gift.
Of course, there are days when it is hectic. You’ve been there. You know what I’m talking about. The days where you want to hide in your bathroom and sit in peace if only for a second. The days where you feel overwhelmed with responsibility and you wonder if you can get it all done.
The days where it feels as though someone has secretly filled your child with sugar during the night. Or, perhaps there is a full moon? It’s in those times that I stop and tell myself that I prayed for this. I diligently prayed and sought God for this gift of love. I begged God for this precious bundle of joy that is now running around “feeling his oats”.
But oh, what a joy it is! Even on the tough days when it seems as though I’m doing everything wrong, that sweet boy of mine will wrap his arms around me and kiss my cheek, and I know that he is everything right.
What a beautiful gift I have been given. The gift of Motherhood is having the opportunity to experience the lovely chaos, the diapers, the potty accidents, the messy kisses, the love, and the spilled messes.
It’s the experience of refolding clothes for the tenth time in a row, picking up toys that were dumped and left unattended, chasing a naked toddler down the hallway after a bath, inconveniencing yourself just for a moment of joy on their face, keeping your patience when they become independent enough to want to learn things on their own.
While Motherhood is most definitely no glamorous job, it is without a doubt the highest calling that you will ever have. Protect that calling with everything you have in you. Seek God to know how He wants you to daily go about this task of being a mother. Proverbs 22:6 (NIV) “Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it.”
Yes, I dare say that Motherhood is the most precious gift a lady can be given. One that I am privileged to finally welcome each day.
