(Confessions from a Mama of Many)
Hey Mama.
How’s your heart been today?
If you are a tad weary, a little worn, feeling stretched, depleted, and often discouraged by how often you are discouraged, I can absolutely relate.
Being the bedrock of a little person’s life is draining. Being the foundational piece of how they find comfort, sustenance, information, regulation, and rest is hard work.
Multiply that number by however many children you may care for, and the flat-out truth is that parenting is a significant, important, and often utterly exhausting enterprise.
The raising and care of little people can be bewildering in the immense variety of needs and areas of focus. You are one person and the work is so much.
So guess what? Admitting and accepting that you can’t do it all is the first step in walking straight into the peace our own Father gives.
Parenting is often more about being parented.
Each challenge, each struggle, each situation, each interaction, each new need you face in your day is an opportunity for you to become childlike yourself and press into the loving, huge arms that are held out to hold you and to nestle your head on the broad, strong shoulder you can fully rest on and trust in.
Psalm 68:19 exclaims, “Praise the Lord; praise God our savior! For each day he carries us in his arms.” (NLT)
Another cherished verse from Scripture for me is Isaiah:
“He will feed his flock like a shepherd. He will carry the lambs in his arms, holding them close to his heart. He will gently lead the mother sheep with their young.”
Isaiah 40:11 (NLT)
One of the best things about this verse is that the mother sheep is not alone, guarding her young by herself out in the wild. She’s not trying to scavenge for her food and the food for her littles, defend everyone from predators, and be ever vigilant and all-knowing about every disease or difficulty that the flock will face.
She’s under the shepherd’s care right along with her lambs. She’s not the one ultimately responsible for their well-being and met needs: He is.
This gives me peace, like a sigh of relief. It’s not all on my shoulders. I can walk each day, doing the best I can with what I have been given, and know at the end of it I am not the final answer. The final answer comes from Someone infinitely more capable, wise, gracious, patient, kind-hearted, tender, and loving than I am.
My job is to manage and care for the little ones I have been given. As a mama sheep with my own littles, it’s as if I’m an under-shepherd.
My calling is to teach them to listen for and follow the voice of our Shepherd. I am to demonstrate complete trust in His faithfulness and ability to care for all my needs.
Children hear what you say but they are more likely to imitate what they see.
My children should see me run to the Shepherd joyfully and quickly for safety, comfort, and sustenance each and every day so that when they also require those things, they know what pattern to replicate in their own lives.
1 Peter 5:2 was written to pastors and overseers (i.e. “shepherds”) of groups of believers in the Early Church, but this also makes it applicable to a mama like me:
“Care for the flock that God has entrusted to you. Watch over it willingly, not grudgingly—not for what you will get out of it, but because you are eager to serve God.”
1 Peter 5:2 (NLT)
My littles are in my care. They have been “entrusted” to me, and I am charged to watch over them with a willing heart and an eagerness to please my Great Shepherd, to whom I will answer for my work.
My prayer for you today is that you will find solace and peace in knowing His tender, watchful care for you. I pray that you will know the deep joy that comes when your heart is soft and quick to turn and follow His guidance.
And I pray that you will walk courageously in the love He gives you each day, willing and eager to pour it out on the little ones you watch over.
Grace and peace to your heart, Shepherd-Mama.
Our Shepherd smiles when He sees you.