Take Heart!

This is to all the moms out there who feel like they always "missed out" on things because they were "stuck" taking care of their children:

This is to the mom who came to many an evening church service, ended up staying in the nursery with only her own children because no other children there, and leaving without anyone even knowing she was there.

This is for the mom who missed her new pastor's ordination service because she knew everyone else in the nursery wanted to go down and see the service and she was worried her child wouldn't be taken care of well by a new volunteer in the nursery who didn't want to be there in the first place.

This is for the mom who went to a morning meeting at someone's house when a missionary was in town and ended up in a bedroom with their own child watching a video because there was no child care set up.

This is for the mom who went to a young married gathering with pretty much the only child at the time and ended up following him around the whole time because he was only one-year-old and she didn't want him to hurt himself or hurt anything in their home.

This is for the mom who stayed home alone with her child from morning til night at a remote farmhouse, barely making ends meet, because she thought it was important to be a stay-at-home mom.

This is for the mom who pumped her breast milk in the bathroom at Art Van to keep her milk up on the long Saturdays when she was away from her son when she was trying to work part-time for her fifth year to be able to get her profit-sharing which helped her family with the down payment on their first home.

This is for the mom who was really bad at directions and drove her son and two other kids in tow to almost every travel baseball game all over the county and beyond before GPS was readily available in a car that she never was quite sure if it would stall out at any given moment (it never did, by the way).

This is for the mom who, when she didn't have her child brush his teeth before he went to bed wouldn't brush hers either so it was "even".

This is for the mom who was looking around at the line of people at her 17-year-old son's visitation and realizing how few of those people she knew because she had spent so much of her time with him and his sister and brother.

This is for the mom who never had her own "life," barely went out with friends, never had time to start a conversation with ladies at church because she was consumed with her child, never forged friendships at social gatherings or family gatherings because she was too "busy" with her child.

You did not "miss" anything! Your time was an investment in your child that pays dividends now! Not only did your time with them benefit them in the shaping of their character and personality, you were spending time with them which is the best investment you can make as a mom in the lives of your children! That is exactly where God intends for mothers to be-with their children as much as possible! Looking back now, I don't regret any of that time! I was thankful I was able to be there for them and for every moment I spent with them and get to spend with them.

Take heart, moms, because guess what-it's worth it!