I wonder if you find yourself feeling, like me, that you don't feel your efforts as a mother and woman are all that amazing. In fact, it's all too easy to look at all the things that I didn't get done (dirty laundry piled in the basement), the good things that other women do and I don't (make my own yogurt and cheese - from only the best raw Jersey milk), and the things I wish I am doing (freeze ahead homemade baby food for my baby). As I put one foot ahead of the other today, just doing what's in front of me and (hopefully) letting the supernatural life of Christ come out, am I fulfilling my God-given role as a mother?
What if I am playing a part in a drama that extends far beyond the walls of my little home? What if today I can be joining in with thousands of other women and mothers like you who are also embracing their womanhood and displaying the glory of God.
Take a deep breath. Take a look at yourself, my friend. What if today, this very day, you are playing a part in the big picture of God's glory? What if an aspect of His glory shines, not in the things you're doing so much as by your reveling in who He has made you to be, and walking in faithfulness to that calling?
I believe that there are ways we women reveal God's nature by simply being who God made us to be.
I believe that there are ways we women reveal God's nature by simply being who God made us to be.
I am seeing with fresh perspective the way that in my female tendencies and weaknesses, beauty shyly shines; I fit into a picture that is bigger than just me. Whether in my relationship with my husband, children, or the Lord, I can glory in the way I am made to be.
For example, my husband needs me to need him. Deep in his psyche he has the God-given desire to protect, be strong, be a hero. We are a perfect fit. My weakness accentuates his strength. His strength, channeled in an honoring and caring way, meets me in my weakness and shows me love in a way that without weakness could not be.
If this wasn’t me, that couldn’t be him. If I wasn’t lost sometimes, his bravery couldn’t shine while grabbing a lifeboat and wading out into the rolling ocean of emotion to my rescue. If I wasn’t weaker than him, his strength wouldn’t have a stage to perform upon.
If this sometimes fragile, emotional person wasn’t me, that strong, stable hero couldn’t be there for me.
I take it as an honor to get to represent the church while my husband represents the hero, Jesus.
The nights when I can’t fall asleep and he stays awake to listen to my heart, we are a picture of Jesus and His Bride.
The times when, weary and overwhelmed, I am met by the strength and love of my husband, we glow with the beauty of Jesus caring for His Church.
I find fulfillment in who God made me to be, as I see the part I have to play in the big picture of God's glory.
By simply being myself, I represent part of an eternal picture God is painting. Just me. Wonderfully emotional, exquisitely fragile, preciously weak me.
As a mother I also am a picture of God’s heart for His children. When I get up in the middle of the night (again...and then again, stuck on repeat night after night) to feed and comfort my child, I am a picture although flawed of the unconditional love and tenderness of God to His children in the night hours of our lives. When I wipe little teary eyes and care about what feels big to a seven-month-old, I am a picture of the way God does just the same with His people. He tenderly cares about what overwhelms us, perfect and different though His perspective may be from ours.
The days when I give of myself over and over and over for our child with a heart naturally filled with love, I am reflecting a bigger Love from a perfect Parent...One Who loves us from before we ever were.
There are times when the picture of who I am is nothing like who God is. That’s because I am just a fuzzy photo taken with a shaky hand, a dim little snapshot trying to capture just a bit of His beauty and perfection. I am delighted to be who I am.
I am a woman.
I am a tiny little part in a picture much bigger than me. I feel so secure here.
My Sister...next time you think you didn’t do anything today, or feel bad about what you didn’t get done, maybe you can remember this: perhaps you have played a part in a drama much bigger than yourself by just being you. Perhaps your simple faithfulness has been playing an amazing part in God's Story that we will only fully see in the future.
Continue on, my dear friends, in loving those around you and being faithful in the little things. By being you, you are beautiful.
I take it as an honor to get to represent the church while my husband represents the hero, Jesus.
The nights when I can’t fall asleep and he stays awake to listen to my heart, we are a picture of Jesus and His Bride.
The times when, weary and overwhelmed, I am met by the strength and love of my husband, we glow with the beauty of Jesus caring for His Church.
I find fulfillment in who God made me to be, as I see the part I have to play in the big picture of God's glory.
By simply being myself, I represent part of an eternal picture God is painting. Just me. Wonderfully emotional, exquisitely fragile, preciously weak me.
As a mother I also am a picture of God’s heart for His children. When I get up in the middle of the night (again...and then again, stuck on repeat night after night) to feed and comfort my child, I am a picture although flawed of the unconditional love and tenderness of God to His children in the night hours of our lives. When I wipe little teary eyes and care about what feels big to a seven-month-old, I am a picture of the way God does just the same with His people. He tenderly cares about what overwhelms us, perfect and different though His perspective may be from ours.
The days when I give of myself over and over and over for our child with a heart naturally filled with love, I am reflecting a bigger Love from a perfect Parent...One Who loves us from before we ever were.
There are times when the picture of who I am is nothing like who God is. That’s because I am just a fuzzy photo taken with a shaky hand, a dim little snapshot trying to capture just a bit of His beauty and perfection. I am delighted to be who I am.
I am a woman.
I am a tiny little part in a picture much bigger than me. I feel so secure here.
My Sister...next time you think you didn’t do anything today, or feel bad about what you didn’t get done, maybe you can remember this: perhaps you have played a part in a drama much bigger than yourself by just being you. Perhaps your simple faithfulness has been playing an amazing part in God's Story that we will only fully see in the future.
Continue on, my dear friends, in loving those around you and being faithful in the little things. By being you, you are beautiful.
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