Posted by Jim_Daly May 11, 2012
Finally being a mom on Mother's Day was completely thrilling. I wasn't sure I'd ever get there, and was deeply grateful for the grace and good doctors that saw me through tragedies on the way to that distinction.
Let the brunching begin!
But in the years to come I would try to create the ultimate Mom's Day with fairly high expectations. Would it be a road trip with the kids? A day alone with a book? Nothing ever really fit perfectly in my mind – I never really sat through a brunch -- and the day always ended the way it began -- four loads of laundry calling and Cheerios staring at me from the corners of the kitchen. So much for the "diffferent" I sought out.
One post-Mother's Day Monday I found myself laughing with friends about foiled plans and fevers and one of us who'd cleaned a toilet in her church clothes the day before. And there it was.
This was mother's day. Every day. The sharing of the journey, the laughter, the drudgery and silliness and ick. It's beautiful to celebrate mothers one Sunday in May, but the celebration is in being a mother. In God’s provision of children, and in his presence pervading every aspect of parenting.
As I worked on a new mom’s devotional book last summer, hundreds of essays and insights splayed across my lap, this was the thought that kept coming back to me. How isolated we can let ourselves become. How united we truly are. How His grace is there in times of great joy and great uncertainty and all the nooks and crannies of life in between.
“Always There” is more than the title of that book. It’s a mindset for remembering God’s abiding presence in all things maternal and, well, all things, period.
The book is His. I’m so grateful that he chose my voice and trusted me to gather the voices of others. I love the stories I’m hearing of mothers of young children giving it to one another. For Mother’s Day.
And for every day.
Author Susan Besze Wallace’s “Always There: Reflections for Moms on God’s Presence” was released this month by Revell. Once a newspaper reporter, she now adheres to the daily deadlines of three boys and celebrates the roller-coaster of motherhood in words and stories whenever she can. She lives in Northern Virginia and can be reached at susan.wallace@live.com
Follow me on Twitter @Dalyfocus
Follow me on Facebook
Keep up with Focus on the Family on Facebook