Grace Is Enough

This post was originally published in September 2010 at my personal blog, Family Musings. I am preparing to go to my 2nd MOPS convention and re-read this post and thought it might be useful to the other moms who struggle with being good enough for their families.

Being a mom on mission doesn't mean being perfect, but instead relying on the one who is.

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"Your grace is enough. Your grace is enough for me."

These are lyrics to one of my favorite songs. I've liked this song for a long time. I can really rock to it in the car and feel close to God. But until recently, whenever I belted it out I focused more on the second part of the lyrics I quoted above - "Your grace is enough for me." Because I'm vain, egotistic, and selfish.

Then, I was blessed to go to the MOPs convention in Orlando in August. And I heard this song in a completely different way. Christi Nockels was leading us in worship through this song and as we got to the end, she riffed a little. And prayed a little. And whispered a little.

She whispered into our ears that His grace is enough for our children. And this His grace is enough for our husbands.

And I was stopped in my tracks. You mean, I'm not enough? I thought that was my role, to be enough for them. That I had to fill their needs and be perfect so they could be their best. One little whisper and my mothering world was rocked!

I was free! I no longer had to be everything to everyone. God's grace was enough for them. God's grace fills the gap that exists between my efforts and perfection.

Do you realize how amazing this is? As mothers, we do not have to do everything under the sun to ensure our children grow up to be healthy.

We don't have to ban television.
We don't have to serve salad with dinner every night.
We don't have to nurse them until they are 2 years old (but great if you do!).
We don't have to teach our children to memorize the Lord's prayer by 3 years old.
We don't have to teach them to read by 4 years old.
We don't have to make sure their clothes match every single blessed day or that every hair is in its place. 

In the end, I realized that there has to be room in their lives for God's grace to be enough... otherwise we teach them to rely on human efforts instead of supernatural movements.

What has rocked your mothering world lately?

Pursuit of Happiness

Today's guest post is from Heather, the mom of two rambunctious, creative and adorable boys who she lets keep a rather large snake named Rocky!

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I was at a Classical Conversations 3-day homeschool conference this week and was touched by several women I encountered. They seemed to have such peace, strength, wisdom, and focus. One woman said, "God did not give us children to make us happy, but to make us holy."

Not a new earth shattering concept, I'm sure I've heard it before, but its been on my mind and heart the last couple of days. It's not a concept that is wide spread in our ME CENTERED culture... I mean, everything we do is for our own happiness... we date and marry someone who makes us happy; we pursue a college degree in order to get that certain dream job so that we will be happy; we buy a certain house in a certain neighborhood so that we will be happy; we go to a certain church because it makes us happy, or we don't go to church at all so we can pursue our own happiness through shopping, fishing, sleeping in, getting things accomplished, going and doing anything and everything else that makes us happy...

What if we started to see things in a different light? What if we saw those "wild banshee" children of ours instead as little perfecters of our holiness? (ahheem, might be stepping on my own toes here!!!) Wouldn't it change our view and possibly change the way we handle our children? I know it has mine over the last couple of days!

What if we saw our husband that drives us absolutely insane instead as a perfecter of our holiness? Instead of focusing on not being happy in a marriage, shifting the focus on how this relationship is God's way of refining us. That every struggle in our marriage is another aspect of purifying us.

What if instead of being frustrated about our jobs, we see it in light of how God is using it to produce holiness in our life? Wouldn't that change the way we talk about our boss, our work ethic, the way you interact with our co-workers?

What if we didn't choose our church by the music or the cool programs, but based on God leading us to the church family that God would use to purify and grow us more? Would we have less complaints about the piddly stuff, and more commitment to the church family in which God has placed us?

Focusing on our own happiness will only leave us frustrated, disappointed, disillusioned, resentful... Focusing on God's purpose of sanctifying us will change our perspective entirely and will motivate us toward the ultimate goal. Living for happiness is shortsighted, while living for holiness is keeping the end goal in sight.

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Heather got it right. If we are going to lead our own children to live holy lives, then we need to begin by focusing on how our own lives are becoming more holy with each passing day.

What do you do to remind yourselves that mothering is not about pursing your own happiness but allowing God to pursue His holiness in you?