Why Being Mom Isn't Enough

   Recently I learned a hard lesson, and I don't know about you, but it seems that God uses experiences as the best way to open my eyes and teach me things. After a 50ish hour work week I came home one night exhausted, stressed, worried, clueless, etc. My daughter was about to turn four years old yet I felt like a new mom on the day she brings home her first newborn... "Now what?". I would get on Facebook (darn you social media) and see moms driving their kids hours to get a picture with Santa in a brand new $75 Christmas outfit. I would see crafts that other moms had spent hours with their kids making. I would see pictures of moms posting large overly expensive gifts they had gotten for their children. There I was coming home from work after a twelve hour day, and it's all I could do to get my daughter bathed and fed and in bed all while listening and asking about her day. And I thought, "now what? What else can I do tonight to show her I love her?"

   Needless to say, I started questioning everything I was doing as a mother. I haven't taken her for Santa pictures this year, am I bad mom? I haven't bought her a brand new red and green outfit, do I really even care about her? We didn't make the first homemade ornament this year, am I using my time with her wisely? Does she even know how much I love her without those things?

   Now I am by no means condemning these mothers. In fact, I'm APPLAUDING you. Really. But it was in this moment God brought a verse to my head that brought so much comfort: "For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast." Eph 2:8-9

   If God can accept my heart and love for Him in a way other than works and doings, how much more could my own daughter accept my love without the works? 

In the new year I hope and plan to make more time for crafts, Santa pictures, and fun trips to the zoo. However, whether you're a single mother or not, loving your children unconditionally is enough some days without the bells and whistles. Working a full time job, providing food on the table, listening to them talk about their day, loving on them, having patience, and most importantly teaching them about Jesus is enough. You are enough. Social media is not the handbook to parenting, and we should stop looking to it for advice and to compare ourselves. So, here's to squeezing in a quick bath and singing "You Are My Sunshine" before bed and calling it a day, a good day, cute pajamas or not.

-The Not So Perfect Mom, Caroline