Editor's Note: The following is a report on the practical applications of Lisa T. Bergren's new book, Life on Planet Mom: A Down-to-Earth Guide to Your Changing Relationships (Revell, 2009). 

Becoming a mom changes your life in ways that significantly affect all of your relationships – with God, yourself, and every other person in your life.  You need strong relationships to support you during this demanding season, but the chaos of raising young children can easily divert your attention away from cultivating relationships.

No matter how busy you are as a new mom, you need to invest in your relationships for your own well-being.  Here’s how you can do so in the middle of motherhood’s chaos:

Look in the mirror.  Take an honest look at how motherhood is changing you.  You’ll likely see that you’ve become less selfish as you make sacrifices in your lifestyle to benefit your child.  You probably understand more deeply what it means to love someone unconditionally.  You may discover that you’ve become more patient.  Invite God to teach you everything He wants you to learn through motherhood, and look forward to greater personal growth.

Invest in your marriage.  Set some boundaries so your child doesn’t deplete all of your time and energy, leaving you nothing for your relationship with your husband.  Plan to spend time with him on a regular basis while your child is either sleeping or with a babysitter.  Think and pray about decisions or requests that you could make to carve out an hour with your husband every night. 

Prioritize your activities and focus just on what’s most important.  Be creative about ways to spend time with your husband: from date nights and bike rides, to making love and watching movies together.  Pray with each other as often as you can, and ask God to give you both the strength and encouragement you need to deal with specific concerns in your lives. 

Adapt to new relationships with your parents.  Think about what positive attitudes and behaviors your parents can pass along to your child – their new grandchild – and encourage them to do so.  Address negative or destructive attitudes and behaviors with your parents honestly and lovingly.  Set healthy boundaries so you and your husband will decide how your child is raised, whether or not your decisions match your parents’ opinions. 

If your parents refuse to change on issues that concern you (like interfering in your parenting), set boundaries and limit your interaction with them.  Consider what parenting patterns you learned from your family of origin (how your parents disciplined, taught, conveyed love, expressed faith, modeled health, etc.) and recognize what was good and bad so you can prevent unhealthy patterns from affecting your own parenting.