The Bible tells us in Psalm 127:3, “Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward.”. Our children are a reward. The gift of raising children is one of the greatest blessings from the Lord, but Satan will do everything he can to convince us otherwise. After all, a mom who becomes overwhelmed by the responsibilities of motherhood and therefore neglects her duty to “train up a child in the way he should go” would be a great asset. As the saying goes, the most important work you will ever do will be within the walls of your own home.

The most important part

While this should include being good stewards of the homes God has blessed us with, I believe the most important part is developing relationships with our children that will enable us to lead them to be disciples of Christ.

As a mama with sweet children depending on you for every need, both physical and emotional, motherhood can come to feel more like a burden than a blessing. Something that you have dreamed of for most of your life, seems somehow to be draining the life out of you. The house is always a mess, the children are always fighting, watching too much TV, or making more messes. We can’t seem to get everything done, so we start prioritizing.

Prioritizing

The problem with trying to weed through all of the responsibilities of motherhood and decide which ones are most important, is that sometimes it is much too easy to focus on the physical – what we can physically see needs done. So we clean the house, do our work, keep the kids clean and fed, and never get around to our family’s spiritual and emotional needs.

As we wade through the swamp of our daily to-do lists, our heart, our Heavenly Father, places time with our children – teaching them, snuggling them, and showing them love – at the top of the list, but then there is Satan, whispering over our shoulder, “but look at this mess!”.

We start to panic, “What if somebody stops by, and sees toys strewn all over the house and dirty dishes in the sink, laundry in the basket, and crumbs on the floor?”. In order to quiet the panicky voices in our heads, we decide we’ll start with just a little cleaning, get at least the most glaring messes taken care of, and then we’ll play with the kids. Great plan! But then the kids need something, and then something else. At first, it’s fine, you can take care of these few little needs and still get your other work done. You patiently help each child and continue as planned.

Sadly, as the interruptions continue, as your children’s needs continue to slow your progress, Satan is back. “These kids are so annoying! All they ever do is whine and bicker with each other. Somebody always needs something from you. If you keep giving and giving of yourself to these little people who never give anything back, you are going to come up empty.”

So we join in the chorus of other tired moms all over the world, doing our own whining about how hard it is to be a mom. You’ve heard of mob mentality, right? We hear people, in the same position as us, constantly talking about how hard it is, how exhausting it is, how they’ve lost themselves to this new identity as “mom”, and we think – they’re right! I don’t know if I’m cut out for this. This is hard.

Encourage one another

Yes, motherhood can be challenging at times, but when we focus on being a mom and let the other stuff take the backseat, it is a huge blessing and a source of great joy! Why does it seem that everyone talks more about the hard stuff than the blessings? The blessings are huge! Shouldn’t the mom mob be encouraging one another with those, rather than pointing out to one another the things that we could be complaining about?

Shut Satan up!

I’ve discovered over the years that when I start feeling like my kids are annoying or a distraction, the best way to shut those voices up, is to take a break from whatever busyness has my attention, and give that attention to them. Just fifteen minutes of playing with them, teaching them, reading with them, or just listening to them can instantly remind me of what a blessing they are and make me realize that I want to spend more time with them. More importantly, it also reminds them of what a blessing they are.

The most heartbreaking moment of my life was the day that my middle son said to me that he was sorry for being such a pain and that it must be horrible to be a mom. How could I let myself get so overwhelmed that I made my children feel like they were the worst part of my life rather than the best?!?

The greatest blessing

When I focus on my children, they no longer seem like a burden or a distraction, but the greatest blessing God has given me in the physical world. They fill my cup, they don’t empty it. Raising children is the greatest joy of my life, even on the hard days.

Meet Desiree!

Desiree is a Christ follower. She is the wife of Aaron and mom of 3 amazing kids. She enjoys crafting and hanging out with her kids in her spare time. She’s the World’s best Seester to One Blessed Momma’s blogger Melinda.