Loser Moms?

Moms are too hard on themselves.

I am very thankful for my children’s mother (my wife Carol, pictured here as Jacqueline Bon Jean the famous French race car driver at "Drive" VBS). She has been a great mom to my kids and will be a great grandmother soon too. We’ve been married for 33.5 years and each time I complement her on her mothering skills she tries to remind me of one of her worst motherhood moments. Our kids all remember fondly two epic meltdowns - the dirty towels and the unanswered cell phone. They were epic and they were rare. 2? You get more strikes than that in baseball!

I wish she remembered more easily:

• All the love and affection,
• All the rocking of babies,
• All the straightening of toys,
• All the delicious meals she prepared,
• All the care and nurture (especially when they were sick),
• All the putting away of clutter,
• All the financial juggling of bills,
• All the laughs and games,
• All the shopping and providing of needs,
• All the organizational details that made our lives easier,
• All the clean laundry (its never all clean),
• All the taxiing,
• Etc., on and on, etc., etc., etc., on and on, etc., etc., etc., on and on, etc., etc., etc., on and on, etc., etc., etc., on and on, etc., etc., etc., on and on, etc., etc.
• This list could go on for hours and no one wants to read a blog that long.

3 things inspired this blog post:

1. A MISSION TRIP: As I write this blog post Carol and I are one day away from a weeklong mission trip to Haiti. It will post when we are in Haiti. Haiti is a place with a long and difficult history of disease, corruption, oppression, and disaster. We are joining an organization called MyLifeSpeaks to assist in the care of disabled orphans. Carol has traveled with me on mission to the most remote places on earth. When we go somewhere, she organizes, administrators, purchases supplies, packs in advance, and takes care of me the entire trip. It’s more than nice it is wonderful! Like my kids, I’m spoiled.
2. A BLOG: I read a blog post about the Proverbs 31 Woman that reminded me of the video below. Tim Fall writes:

   There is a lot of wisdom literature in the Bible about work and families and parents caring for children. But when it comes to working mothers, the person who gets the most attention is the Proverbs 31 woman. If you give the passage even a cursory glance, you can see why some people mistakenly look at her as the ideal for all women. There she is, the Proverbs 31 Woman: now go forth and do likewise!

   What a load of hogwash. Some people seem to read Proverbs 31 as a biography of the woman every woman should emulate. I have some news for you: The Proverbs 31 woman never existed. She's not a real person. She's a personification.

   Personification is a literary device to give us an idea of how someone can live out the wide range of wisdom found in the middle portion of the Book of Proverbs, wisdom that includes work and families and parents caring for children.

3. A VIDEO: by Elevation Church that reminded me of my wife, the Haitian missionary. Wives and mothers are a gift from God. They need to be encouraged and appreciated. Enjoy the video and then stop what your doing and call your mother! Tell her thank you. Tell her you love her. Tell her how proud you are of her. If your mother has passed then pray a prayer of thanksgiving.

A New Perspective For Moms from Elevation Church on Vimeo.