“There is nothing hidden from the king.” 2 Samuel 18:13
In Genesis 16 we find the story of Hagar. Having been abused by Sarai, her master, Hagar fled from her. At a well in the wilderness, an angel came to Hagar and spoke over her unborn child. He told her that she would have a boy and to name him Ishmael which means, “God hears”. The angel blessed her and her son and commanded her to return to her master. So Hagar said to the angel of the LORD, “You are a God who sees me.”
Beloved, God sees you. There is nothing hidden from the King of kings. There is nowhere where you can hide from Him. There is no mountain high enough where He can’t find you. You can not flee to the depths of the sea and not be seen by His love. Even there His hand shall lead you and His right hand shall hold you. If you say, “surely the darkness will cover me, and even the light around me is like night,” even the darkness isn’t dark to Him; the night is bright as the day, for the darkness is as light to Him. There is nothing that can separate you from His love for you through Christ Jesus. Not one single thing.
As mothers we all too often hold ourselves to a standard we simply can not achieve. We look around us and see everyone else’s best qualities and then sew them together into a quilt of guilt for ourselves where we can’t ever quite measure up. We see the mom who always looks perfect and beat ourselves up for not being pretty enough. We can’t see that she cries herself to sleep at night because she’s found out her husband looks at porn instead of her. Even she’s not pretty enough.
We look at the mom who’s always so peaceful and serene with her kids and beat ourselves for losing our temper and screaming at our kids. We miss the moment when she locked herself in the bathroom because she was too overwhelmed and needs five minutes of PEACE. Even she’s not peaceful enough.
We read the highlight reel of Facebook and judge our blooper reel against it. We are not fair to ourselves. We judge ourselves by standards that no one can live up to. We see perfection in everyone BUT ourselves. The truth is that NO ONE is perfect except Jesus. No one can do everything. No one can be everything to everyone. No one can be someone to the whole world. But you CAN be someone’s whole world. It’s called being a mom.
There is no one in this whole planet that is going to love you and look up to you the way your children do. You gave them LIFE, that’s not a small fact that escapes their attention, though it often escapes ours. We fail to remember the gigantic role we play in keeping these people alive and setting them up for the best possible future we can. Our children are the greatest gift we can possibly give mankind. They are the future and when we train them up in The Way they should go, when they are old they will not stray. And the best way to do that is to be a great role model.
What if, right now, I start teaching my daughter to judge herself fairly by modeling it for her? What if, instead of just telling her she’s capable of anything she puts her mind to, I show her. What if I start teaching my children the power of forgiveness by first forgiving myself?
I’M NOT PERFECT AND THAT’S OK!
I need to allow myself to fall short from time to time. And I can’t expect the glory of God from myself because that’s not going to happen. That’s just not how it works! The glory of God comes from GOD. It’s not something we can obtain, just ask Eve. Nor is it something that we should strive to attain. It’s His glory, and it will remain that way. The glory that IS ours is the glory that God created for us. It’s the glory of doing what God created us to do. In the way He created us to do it.
What’s so fun about going to the zoo? We go to watch the seals swim, the lions prowl and the monkeys monkeying around. We delight in watching the animals be animals and do what God created them to do. What if, for this year, we delight in doing what God created us to do – be moms.
You know those moments when we think we’re alone and we’re putting some special touch on something no one will ever see or notice? It’s in those moments that we must understand there is NOTHING hidden from the King. He sees your bathroom fears and your silent victories over them. He’s keeping track of each diaper changed, every rough tear-filled night, every sigh of frustration, He sees them all. He’s there through them all because He loves YOU!
No. You’re not the perfect mom.
No one is.
BUT.
You ARE the perfect mom for your kids. You know how I know that? Because God chose YOU to be their mom! And God doesn’t make mistakes.
Happy Mother’s Day Mom!
Tamar Knochel 