Weakness in Motherhood

A few weeks ago Jeremy and I went on a little date to celebrate shipping out all the preorders of the Joy in Christ Journals. We had a great lunch, and then went to see "Mom's Night Out". The movie was pretty hysterical, mostly for the fact that it talked about some really real issues. It made me think a lot because for some reason we as women feel the need to be perfect, and have it all together. I will be the first to admit, that I just don't. Some days my house is a mess. Some days we have pizza for dinner. Some days I forget to take a shower. I have realized that we don't do each other any favors by pretending to have it all together. For the struggling mom next to us, it would probably help a whole lot more if we would just be honest. I have a friend at church who is an amazing mom that has four adorable kids, and I always love her honesty. When you ask her how she is, she is almost always smiling, but she doesn't give you a fluffy answer, she tells you things are good, but a little chaotic at her house. I think we could use a dose of honesty when we talk about motherhood. I see a lot of moms pretend to be super mom when they are struggling, and I see other moms complain about their kids non stop...these extremes are just not good for anyone. The answer to our struggles as moms has to be found in the gospel. The truth is, we can't do it on our own. Motherhood, and so many other things in life, is too much for us to handle on our own. But, we have a Savior that is on our side, that desires to help us through every aspect. We don't need to be perfect moms in our own strength, we can rest in His strength to get us through. We are weak, but He is strong. When we hide our weakness, we hide His strength. When we are honest about our weakness, we let Christ's grace and strength work through us. When we are honest about our weakness as mothers we preach the gospel to our children, and to those around us, that Jesus will do what we can not do. His power is made perfect in our weakness. Let's be honest about our weakness and His indescribable strength. Let's not talk about ourselves as supermom, or our kids as the worst kids ever, lets use motherhood to point to Jesus.