Mornings are hard for me. As much as I love those mornings when I get up before dawn, I struggle hard with the getting up part. So I rarely do. Instead, I get up shortly after my children, groggily and slowly, and it takes me about 2 hours to fully wake up. And as long as I'm not moving, and remain planted until I wake up, my children will not have motivation to move either. It's only after I get up and begin bustling about that my children follow suit.
Telling them to do things while I remain seated with my coffee is futile. Not to mention, it's rather lazy and unfair of me to order them around when I'm not even up and moving yet. So, they drag their feet.
Children Follow the Leader.
I am a leader in my home and they will follow my example.
In fact, much of what happens in our homes are what our children will see as "normal" in their own lives. So, allowing myself so long to "wake up" before actually moving in the morning is setting the bar pretty low for my own children. I want my children to see their mama do the hard things, not make excuses.
And it's easy to make excuses. About anything.
What if I was this lazy in all areas? That'd make me a pretty mediocre mom and I wouldn't be a very good example for my children. As a mother, I want to strive to raise children better than myself; who grow up to do greater things than me.
Being a mother was never meant to be easy and giving myself allowances for laziness in any area is a slippery slope. You know that old saying, "give 'em an inch and they'll take a mile"? Yeah, that's me. I need to keep a tight reign on how intentional I am about my life so that my children, who are already following me, will follow me down the path of His strength and not wallow in their weaknesses.
How does God make himself strong through our weaknesses? It's not by waiting and doing nothing. It's by getting up and taking that first step, knowing that He will carry us. But unless we take that step, we won't move and we'll continue in our weaknesses.
God's glory is made known through the parts of our lives that we cannot manage on our own. Whether it's an everyday life habit or a season of pain and uncertainty.
My children, especially my eldest who's 11, know that I struggle to wake up early and they know I want to. My daughter asks me consistently if I was able to get up early on mornings and I almost always respond with a disappointing, "no."
If I would take that first step, which for me is just getting out of bed, I know God would meet me there and take me by the hand.
Don't misunderstand, this isn't about waking early {for me it is, because it's what makes my household run smooth}. This is about stepping out in our weaknesses so God will take our hand and lead us. Yours may look completely different from mine.
Did I mention I also have a love/hate relationship with cooking? {More hate then love, I assure you}.
Yet another area where God's glory can be made known because everyone knows I am not fond of nor put much effort into the kitchen.
These are areas in my life, as a mother, I would like to see strengthened, because I want my children to see me do the hard things, not just what I'm good at. If they're going to follow me, I want it to be worthy of the calling Christ has given me so they will live in the same manner.
Where can God meet you, take your hand, and be your strength as a mother?
Joy in Christ,
Christin, Joyful Mothering
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