Motherhood

Yesterday was Mother's Day (does she always start her posts with "yesterday..."?! yes.). It was my first Mother's Day as a mother. Since my daughter is only 3 months old I hardly felt as if I'd earned a whole day of honor. But then I remembered how I surrendered my body for those 9 months - slash the rest of my life. I thought about all the sleep I've lost and gross bodily fluids I've endured. I considered the time, money, and space in my house that I've given up for baby and all her baby things. And I decided that I will accept the tasty breakfast in bed made by my husband on behalf of my daughter. yum. Pancakes are totally worth all of that. kidding. She is.

"I held my breath for 9 months before, how come I can't handle 30 seconds now?"

People often say they learn so much from their kids - especially about God. They say this about marriage too. Maybe I'm doing something wrong, because I haven't learned that much more about God since being married. I have, however, learned a thing or two since being a parent. I don't mean to compare myself to God, but in the parent/child relationship, I'm the parent...so...

For starters, God and I both created a person. Let me just say that Genesis must be sparing us some pretty intense details in the whole person making process!! Obviously God had a lot more to do with this than I did, but it is pretty cool to have someone bear your image. Hopefully she grows up to look more like God than me!

job description: being, benefits: mom loves me

Also, God loves us pretty stinking much. Right now I can only think of one person who I love even though she is constantly using me, spitting on me, pooping on me, screaming at me and giving me little more than a smile in return for how much I love her. God loves billions of people who have been treating him way worse. He loves us whether or not we acknowledge Him or do anything for Him. Many of us struggle with letting Him save us for free. We try to be good enough or do enough to earn salvation. If you have a child, you probably know that while it's great (slash frustrating) when they try to help you, it really isn't necessary. You love them no matter what - before they have anything to offer you. God's love is even greater and purer than ours.

"If you want to maintain your sense of hearing, I suggest you put that camera down and feed me"

God also knows a lot and is very patient with our tiny, unknowing brains. I often wish there were some way to communicate to my daughter that I know she's hungry and I'm going to feed her and it would go much better for both of us if she would just calm down and trust me. But alas, I cannot. And God probably feels the same way about me when I try to make plans for myself and start to freak out because my plans aren't working.

As our little girl grows, I expect that I’ll continue to learn more about God due to the frequency with which I will be calling on him for strength, wisdom, patience, grace, gentleness, etc. Maybe that’s really what people mean when they say you learn so much about God by becoming a parent… ;)