Half Ass for Jesus

A super popular Christian Mom Blogger recently posted a blog about what a lame end--of-school-year Mom she is. I don't read her blog regularly and I don't know her, but several of my Facebook friends "shared" it, so I took a peek.

It was sad.

And it lined up with a lot of attitudes I've seen around me lately (and in the past) as well as things I've been wrestling with spiritually.

This Mama who writes books and speaks at conferences (kind of proudly?) went on and on about how sucky she is, that she's basically given up on her kids and her involvement in their education because it's the end of the year. She was good at the beginning of the year and she will be next year too, and then she'll suck again as the year progresses. You know why? Becuase she's tiiiiired! Super funny, huh?

No. It's not funny. Not to me.

And I don't think God thinks it's funny either.

I've heard a lot of this attitude lately, from people I know and just from Moms I meet in passing. The just-get-by-I'm-such-an-exhausted-martyr mentality...oh and it's funny!

I know being a Mom is HARD WORK and I know it makes you tiiiired (remember my Precious Dude didn't sleep through the night until he was 11 months old and now only takes a 30 minute nap)!! And I know there will always be some hard days or moments where a just-get-through-it attitude is probably the best option (we've all been there and we will all be there again!). But to live your life as if your family and kids are some group of inconveniences, not worth giving your all or fodder for your super funny blog so hundreds of people can stroke your ego with their supportive comments is sad. Sad for the mom, sad for the kids and very sad for the people looking up to you.

Hebrews 12 tells us to '...run with perseverance the race set before us.' And Colossians 3 says 'whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters.'

I want to be a Mama who runs this race with perseverance, with all my heart! I know I miss the mark, but it's still my goal.

Growing up, my parents always told us to "finish strong" not to get weak or lazy just because it's the end of a project, school year, no one is watching, etc.. What a great attitude to impart to your kids-thanks Mom and Dad!

Life is hard. Raising tiny humans to the glory of God is VERY hard. But God equips us, leads us, gives us grace and strength so that we don't have to be sucky! He also puts people in our lives to come along side us and encourage and support us.

What really made me sad about this blog was the number of people who read it and look up to her and felt good about their sub-par Mothering as well, who want to be like her. I don't think anyone was challenged to do better or work unto the Lord, if anything, it was kind of permission to suck more. (If you happen to read her blog, I'm not judging you, just sharing how I felt about this post.)

I want to be around people who inspire me to be better and give me hope for the future!! My mom does this of course, but in my life right now I have two friends who come to mind.

My friend Kristen makes me want to keep a cleaner, less cluttered home, with an organized fridge and bubble water. She inspires me to seize the day by the way she plans fun things for her family to do-always making great memories and taking advantage of what Austin has to offer. Most importantly though, Kristen gives me hope! Hope that my sleepless, high energy, to-the-max toddler will one day sleep! Hope that he too will be an awesome, chilled out preschooler...or if he's not chilled out, he can at least "take it down a notch" when told to do so! :) Hope, that the hard work I'm putting in now really does pay off, and sooner than I realize.

My friend Stephanie, has 3 kids, 3 and under. She never treats them like a herd and is excited over each milestone as if it were her first. She is organized, she is calm and put together. She picked up and moved across the country with her husband with a huge amount of grace and has taken on this adventure head on. She makes time with each of her kids individually. I love watching her be a Mama.

I want to be a Mom who inspires others. Who lives each day to the fullest and to the glory of God. Not a Mom who is half ass for Jesus.

If you can't tell, I've been thinking a lot lately. I'm reading I Saw The Angel In The Marble by Chris and Ellyn Davis. It is giving me a lot to chew on. So far, I highly recommend, it's inspiring me to be "all in" and to seek out what exactly my God given responsibilities are as Makafui's Mama.