Unconditional Love and Hidden Joys in Motherhood
After a very messy experience with her toddler, a mom wrote the following:
"As I held him, I marveled that neither this, nor any other yucky sacrifice I would endure as a mom, could make me stop loving him. I tried my best to offer up this sacrifice to God as a prayer.
For in that moment, I understood what it meant to be a child of God: unconditional love.
It was an eye-opening glimpse of the overarching love God must feel for me and all his children. 'See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!' (1 John 3:1).
I now seek God the most in these really trying and sacrificial moments of motherhood. I often ask for divine intervention, offering up sacrifices as a prayer, many times while I'm enduring them. Doesn't matter if it's a real biggie, like a medical crisis, or something that seems big, like making it through the supermarket with a toddler mid-tantrum.
By praying while I experience these inevitable joys of motherhood, I hope to imitate the example set by the apostle Paul. 'Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church' (Colossians 1:24 ESV). While I'm no Paul and there is nothing lacking in Christ's redemption, it's in these moments that I'm given an earthly opportunity to share in Christ's suffering. In the process, I feel I'm growing closer to Christ.
Yes, even through the hard-to-stomach moments.
There is a hidden joy in the duties that I do not choose, but which choose me. They give me the opportunity to better love my children. And they unite me more closely to our Lord.
I'm getting much more than I'm giving."
-This is myJob Privilege; Jennifer Sammons; "Always There"
"As I held him, I marveled that neither this, nor any other yucky sacrifice I would endure as a mom, could make me stop loving him. I tried my best to offer up this sacrifice to God as a prayer.
For in that moment, I understood what it meant to be a child of God: unconditional love.
It was an eye-opening glimpse of the overarching love God must feel for me and all his children. 'See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!' (1 John 3:1).
I now seek God the most in these really trying and sacrificial moments of motherhood. I often ask for divine intervention, offering up sacrifices as a prayer, many times while I'm enduring them. Doesn't matter if it's a real biggie, like a medical crisis, or something that seems big, like making it through the supermarket with a toddler mid-tantrum.
By praying while I experience these inevitable joys of motherhood, I hope to imitate the example set by the apostle Paul. 'Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church' (Colossians 1:24 ESV). While I'm no Paul and there is nothing lacking in Christ's redemption, it's in these moments that I'm given an earthly opportunity to share in Christ's suffering. In the process, I feel I'm growing closer to Christ.
Yes, even through the hard-to-stomach moments.
There is a hidden joy in the duties that I do not choose, but which choose me. They give me the opportunity to better love my children. And they unite me more closely to our Lord.
I'm getting much more than I'm giving."
-This is my
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