Happy Mother's Day

This painting hangs in a hallway at work. It's by Mary Cassat, and I've always loved her pictures of mother's with their children. I don't know why this one stands out to me. Maybe it's because my mother used to wash my feet at night (If I wasn't going to take a bath, I at least wasn't going to put my dirty feet on my sheets). I think maybe I like it because it shows a certain tenderness, and how we become servants for our children. Like Jesus washing the disciples feet, this mother bends down and lovingly washes her child.

There's so much about being a mother that I simply couldn't understand until I became one. I didn't know how hard it would be, how it never stopped, how emotionally taxing it could be. I also never realized how much I would love my children, how much I would love being their mother, or in how many ways I would be rewarded.

Motherhood isn't just a rough job because there is so much to do, or because there is so much responsibility. Motherhood is hard because there's nothing more important. There's nothing else in the world that we want to do as well. And unlike other jobs, the feedback isn't great. We may have well behaved kids, but we won't really know that we did a good job until they're adults. At which point we can't exactly go back and fix any mistakes we've made. So, there's a lot of pressure we put on ourselves. I'm so grateful that I have both a great husband, and a loving God to lean on. I hope my husband helps temper me so we provide our kids balance. And I hope my God makes up for my shortcomings.

On Mother's Day, we don't usually do much. I usually have breakfast in bed. And this year Piper read to me, and the girls offered me massages, which was very sweet. But on Mother's Day I don't usually think about me, I think about all of us. I think about the billions of mothers before me and how I'm part of this continuation of life. I think about my mother and how grateful for her I am, and how I pray she's with me for a very long time. I think about all the mothers who've impacted my life. I think about how mothers change the world and how glad I am that there's one day that everyone stops and notices that.

So, to all the mothers out there, Happy Mother's Day. You've all earned it. It's the hardest and best job in the world.

As a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you;
and you will be comforted over Jerusalem.

Isaiah 66:13