If you haven't caught on by my blog posts or social media posts, motherhood has not come easy to me. Especially stay-at-home, round-the-clock, no breaks motherhood. I'm not sure it's easy for any mom to be followed around all day by little people who constantly need something, although I certainly have mom friends who carry through motherhood a little more lightly than I. For me, it was a shock that I wasn't finding joy in being a mom. Since I was little, I knew I ultimately wanted to be a homemaker. I'd dream of having 6 kids, speaking in a sing-songy voice all the time, always smelling and looking beautiful, having an endless supply of energy, and of course never having a Mom body.
Well. The news that being a Mom was less than stellar was broken to me the very night my first was born. I sat on the toilet, after giving birth, with the nurse staring at me waiting for me to pee. I looked down at the cushion of what was left of my once baby-filled belly..sagging and scattered with stretch marks. And then I left that bathroom to a colicky baby who treated me as a human cow for months to follow. When I wasn't nursing that tiny alien, I was either crying from exhaustion, bouncing her on an exercise ball, or doing a combination of all three. I thought it would get easier. It didn't.
If it wasn't sleep deprivation, it was loneliness, or boredom, or frustration. And when one little alien became two little aliens, it didn't feel like a blessing, it felt like a curse. I wanted to be a mother for all the wrong reasons, and boy oh boy has the Lord used motherhood to expose all the ugliness in my heart!
Being a stay at home mom is a very unseen and thankless job. As I navigate through sibling rivalry, sorting out discipline, choosing what their bodies are fed with, scheduling out days that don't all look identical, folding and putting away laundry, doing the dishes (by hand right now), vacuuming, washing the windows, making the beds, changing diapers, cleaning up puke, putting the toys away.....the list goes on. Nobody sees me. Nobody is giving me a raise or a pat on the back. Nobody is nominating me for employee of the month. Nobody is seeing my bad days and asking if I'm ok. Nobody is seeing my good days and admiring my work. It is quite possibly the most unseen and isolated job out there.
But this is good. This is very good. It has taken over 3 years of working out some deeply rooted sin and fighting against a self-absorbed mind, but God has shown me that He sees me and that it's enough that He sees me. As His child, I am not working for anyone else, I am working for Him and for His glory alone. Let's take a look at Genesis 16, which has humbled me and made me deeply thankful!
Now Sarai, Abram's wife, had borne him no children. She had a female Egyptian servant whose name was Hagar. And Sarai said to Abram, “Behold now, the Lord has prevented me from bearing children. Go in to my servant; it may be that I shall obtain children by her.” And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai. So, after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, Sarai, Abram's wife, took Hagar the Egyptian, her servant, and gave her to Abram her husband as a wife. And he went in to Hagar, and she conceived. And when she saw that she had conceived, she looked with contempt on her mistress. And Sarai said to Abram, “May the wrong done to me be on you! I gave my servant to your embrace, and when she saw that she had conceived, she looked on me with contempt. May the Lord judge between you and me!” But Abram said to Sarai, “Behold, your servant is in your power; do to her as you please.” Then Sarai dealt harshly with her, and she fled from her. The angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, the spring on the way to Shur. And he said, “Hagar, servant of Sarai, where have you come from and where are you going?” She said, “I am fleeing from my mistress Sarai.” The angel of the Lord said to her, “Return to your mistress and submit to her.” The angel of the Lord also said to her, “I will surely multiply your offspring so that they cannot be numbered for multitude.” And the angel of the Lord said to her,
“Behold, you are pregnantHe shall be a wild donkey of a man,
and shall bear a son.
You shall call his name Ishmael,
because the Lord has listened to your affliction.
his hand against everyone
and everyone's hand against him,
and he shall dwell over against all his kinsmen.”
So she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, “You are a God of seeing,” for she said, “Truly here I have seen him who looks after me.” 14 Therefore the well was called Beer-lahai-roi; it lies between Kadesh and Bered. And Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram called the name of his son, whom Hagar bore, Ishmael. Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to Abram.
This is such a beautiful story. It is simply amazing that the Lord spoke to Hagar, told her to go back as a servant and submit to Sarai, and then told Hagar that she'd give birth to a wild donkey of a man. The Lord wasn't saying "Go back, and Sarai will die and Abram will dote on you and you'll give birth and live happily ever after as a perfect little family". But yet, after all of this was said, Hagar simply said "You are a God of seeing" and she obeyed his commands. It was precious enough to Hagar that the Lord knew her and saw her that she was able to submit to a life that looked less than stellar, and was able to trust that the Lord was equipping her and would give her joy.
I'm encouraging my heart to reflect on this story in all the moments that I feel unseen. He sees me. He sees me. He sees me. I'll end this with a prayer.
Father God, precious Lord. Thank you that I don't have to work for man, but that I can serve joyfully for you. God, I pray that my life would reflect you and not me. I pray that when I desire affirmation from people, or praise, or fame, or attention, that I would run to you in my need and that I would be filled by your perfect love and your perfect sight. I pray that I would serve my family selflessly and confidently, knowing that you, and you alone, equip me in all my many moments of weakness. Thank you for your patience as I figure out this motherhood gig and thank you for trusting me with these little souls regardless of my weak and sinful heart. Thank you that in my imperfection, you offer my children a perfect parent in you and love that will surpass anything I could ever offer. In Jesus name I pray. Amen.
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