As a mother you hardly ever get to rest. Your work is never done. When trying to keep up the demands of a house, your children, and the expectations of your husband sometimes moments that you get a few minutes to yourself to sit down and rest...you suddenly find yourself emptying out the dishwasher, folding that last pile of laundry or in my case writing a blog post on resting :). Lots of times us mothers are the last ones to lay our heads down at night. We are too busy making sure lunches are packed, clothes are laid out, and finding ourselves picking up after all the others who are sleeping so peacefully in their beds. Then before you know its the booty crack of dawn and our feet have to hit the floor again ready to take on the day...because everyone depends on...Mama.
But us mothers need to rest! We need to get a good nights sleep. A well rested mother is super beneficial to her family. Restlessness and lack of sleep can cause many problems. It can cloud your thinking, make you grouchy, overwhelmed, frustrated, leave you open to spiritual attacks, and cause you not to walk in the fruit of the spirit. It can also cause us to make unwise choices and irrational decisions; choices and decisions that we would not usually make with a well rested mind.
Quick story...a week ago I was running on fumes. Had not been getting much sleep at all. Just when I finally got my little one pretty much sleeping through the night you would think I would learn and get my butt to sleep too...but no...I have been to busy trying to be Super MOM...(Let me just say...why do we need to try and be Super mom? Why do we feel as if we need to live up and compete to the other mothers around us? I know I for one have tried and failed miserably when trying to meet and live up to be like mother A & B. So why can't we just be the mother who God has called us to be? God has put a high calling on each of our lives as a mother...an individual calling. So just be that mother.) and trying to do too many things at one time on little to no sleep! Don't want to go into full detail because it could take a while...but in my attempts to rush and clean our bathrooms while my son was taking his afternoon nap, my sleep deprivation kicked in and clouded my thinking. It caused me to flood our bathroom upstairs with water. The water then seeped into the floor, which is the ceiling to to our kitchen, and flooded parts of our kitchen. Now our home looks like NASA with plastic containment sheets up everywhere blocking off certain areas and rooms. A demolition team winded up having to come in and take out a part of our ceiling, pull up all of our floors because of water damage and mold and now we are having to replace all of it! Thankfully we have homeowners insurance...but this was a complete headache. All in all...if I had been getting much needed rest I probably would of been a little more coherent and focused on what I was doing. So its vital we get sleep! The laundry can wait to be folded in the morning, bathrooms can be put off to be cleaned later...and the dishes can be left for another day. Just stop...go to bed and get some rest!
But getting a good nights rest is not all of us mothers need to do to be the best mothers we can be, and to be beneficial to our family.
We need to also rest in the presence of God.
Christ tells us in Matthew 11:28 "Come unto me, all (mothers) who are weary and heavy burdened and I will give you rest."
This type of rest is different. Because this type of rest He is referring to is only found in Christ. It is soaking in His word, being drenched in His presence, feeling secure in Him, and allowing His peace to only fill our soul. We need to recharge and refuel ourselves spiritually daily. It keeps us focused, balanced, filled up, steadfast, rooted in the fruits of the spirit, and a peace in knowing that our mothering is only secure in Him so that we do not fall prey to the pressures around us to try and compete or live up to other mothers, and be this some sort of fabricated Super Mom. It's letting His perfect peace fill us up in a way that nothing else will...in a way that all other things have left us empty and only filling temporary voids. When we are drenched in His presence we can be salt and light to our children and family.
His word, is a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our paths for all...even mothers...we should use it daily to set us on the the right track to raise our children...not society or anyone else.
So this is something that God has been poking and prodding at my heart with recently. That I need to let everything else go and get a good nights rest daily...even if that mean's as soon as my little mans body hits the crib...so my body needs to hit the bed! Also, not only that, but to truly rest in Him daily as well. Sometimes It seems as if we don't have time for anything else on our plate with the crazy list of chores and demands for the day...but we have to make time for our Lord. After all He is the one that gave us the gift of motherhood...let us give Him back our hearts.
I pray that God pokes and prods at your mothering heart today too. His rest is best!
"Lord help me to not live up to the demands and pressures of this world to be this and that, but to be the mother you have called me to be. Help me to lay all other things aside...things that are not important for the moment and to rest my tired eyes and body, and Lord I pray that I find my security, and peace only in Christ...and your word! Help me to soak and just rest in your presence daily because your kind of rest is the best. I love you. Amen"
No comments:
Post a Comment