Good Enough, Momma – Mothers, You ARE Enough

Mothers, you are enough

On the heels of Mother’s Day, when life returns to the chaotic normal of to-do lists and “what’s for dinner?” I have a message for all you mothers out there. 

As a mother, I think I sometimes (often) have unrealistic expectations of myself. I make myself feel guilty because I’m not playing with my kids enough, or doing enough crafts with them. Maybe they’ve watched too much TV or played video games for too long while I’ve been working, or my back has been hurting. I’m not reading to them enough, or interacting with them one on one enough. I don’t keep the house clean enough. I’m not Pinterest-y enough…
…enough…enough

…enough. 

The more I type out that word, the uglier it gets. And the thing is, none of that is true. Satan will try to make you feel overwhelmed at every turn, make you feel like you’re doing everything wrong, make you feel like you’re not enough.​ But remember this…

One day, while I was being particularly hard on myself, I decided to think as far back as my memory could recall, of the things I remember most about my mother when I was a child. 

Guess what. It wasn’t arts or crafts. It wasn’t reading books all the time. It wasn’t getting down on the floor to play with me every single day. It is not because she didn’t do those things, ever. She did, but my memories are of her being there. I can picture her, working hard on a hot summer day, in our garden, to provide food for us, while I played in the yard around her. I can remember her on bike rides and walks to the park. In later years, I can remember her working hard long days for the Post Office, and then still showing up, in uniform, to rebound for me at basketball practice, or take pictures at my games. I remember the first time I saw her cry, when her grandfather died, and my young brain didn’t quite know what to say. I remember her, behind her camera, documenting every part of our lives that she could.

One of the absolute clearest memories I have of her from when I was around 8 years old doesn’t have anything to do with play, or quality time, or crafts.

We stopped at the shoe store on our way to the gym one night. We were just looking, not buying that day. We left after a bit, and as we pulled up to the gym, she put her hand in her jacket pocket and pulled out a set of shoe laces from the store. She had accidentally pocketed them while looking around, and didn’t even realize it. We immediately piled back into the car to go back. She was so upset. I watched her walk those 25 cent shoe laces back into the store to return them and apologize for her mistake.

Memories of my mother revolve around emotions and character. I may have just been an onlooking observer, sometimes playing on the sidelines with my sister, while she worked, but she was there and that was enough.

Mothers, you are enough. You are exactly the mother your children need you to be. You are doing the works which God has already prepared you for, and your good enough​ is perfection.