Sunday will be my first Mother’s Day.

My daughter is 11 months old, and while I still count last year’s Mother’s Day when I was pregnant with her, this year feels more official and even more special.

Motherhood has stretched, grown, and sanctified me in ways that I never anticipated.

The past 11 months have taught me what true patience, gentleness, self-control, love, kindness (really all the fruits of the Spirit) really look like in practice.

While I don’t in any way want to downplay the sacrifice that motherhood is or the hardships that it brings– the sleep deprivation, being needed constantly, nap schedules, bedtime schedules, and the like– I cannot express in words how much fulfillment and joy my life has as a mom.

And right now, I want to speak to my fellow Christian moms who so often feel “left out” of life.

In a culture that seeks to scare young women out of having children over the fear of “losing your freedom,” my challenge to this overwhelming narrative is that maybe your freedom, in a way, needed to be lost.

My “freedom” to do “what I want to do” is limited because my schedule revolves around my daughter’s schedule.

There are often times where I have to cancel plans, sit out of events, leave early, arrive late, or miss the whole church sermon for the sake of caring for my daughter and her needs.

Leaving the house isn’t as simple anymore (it often takes me 15 minutes to just get out the door). Dates with my husband require more planning and forethought.

And yet, there is an inexpressible joy that comes with the chaos.

In many ways, I am so glad my “freedom” is gone because the work that I do to care for and love my daughter has the deep weight of eternal significance.

• The early morning hours of feeding and rocking is worship.
• Missing the sermon to care for my daughter’s needs is worship.
• Comforting my daughter after a fall is worship.
• Cleaning my floors after breakfast, lunch, and dinner for what feels like the thousandth time is worship.
• Reading my daughter her bedtime story is worship.

So often, even we as Christian moms who know the truth logically still see the mundane tasks that God has given us in our care for our children as less-than.

• The “real work” are those people who are really out there making a difference with their careers.
• The “real worship” are those people who are able to hear the whole sermon and take notes on top of that.
• The “real friendships” are those that are uninterrupted by distractions.

These lies are not only untrue, they are spiritual harmful to us moms. In truth, our lives– everything we do– is an act of worship to God.

“Offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.” (Romans 12:1)

Moms, do not fall for the lie that your work of changing diapers, wiping tears, or reading stories is somehow insignificant.

In fact, it is the most significant thing you will ever do, and I am so grateful to the God who allowed me to be a mom.

“…Open my eyes that I might see this act

For what it is from the fixed vantage of eternity,

O Lord–

 

How the changing of a diaper might

Sit upstream of the changing of a heart;

How the changing of a heart might

Sit upstream of the changing of the world…”

A Liturgy for Changing Diapers I, Every Moment Holy, Volume 1