I read this the other day from CS Lewis. He wasn’t writing about momming, but it sure spoke to my mama heart.
“Our model is the Jesus, not only of Calvary, but of the workshop, the roads, the crowds, the clamorous demands and surly oppositions, the lack of all peace and privacy, the interruptions. For this, so strangely unlike anything we can attribute to the divine life in itself, is apparently not only like, but IS, the divine life operating under human conditions.”
For myself, it’s relatively easy to be an imitator of Christ when there are no oppositions or irritations. If I could just get enough rest, or once the house is clean, or when they will just learn to pick up their own stuff – THEN I will be just the kind of person I strive to be. Except it never works out that way.
But Jesus. He really is just as I want to be, and He did it in the midst of clamoring and inconvenience and noise and hunger and outright opposition. And I’m reminded once again how much sanctifying work there is for grace to do in me.
And I’m grateful again that the Lord knew all that before He began the work. He knew I would be overwhelmed at times, that I would miss the mark repeatedly. And instead of giving up the whole thing as hopeless, He patiently, persistently stays by me.
This knowledge makes me want to stay the course. It strengthens my determination. I don’t want to give it all up as too hard when He has never given up on me.