Super Mom — Ha!

Isn’t it funny how we watch each other and make assumptions?

“Wow, she ALWAYS has make up on and puts bows in her little girl’s hair. She must really have it together.”

“Humph, those boys are always dirty. Doesn’t their mother take care of them or teach them to wash?”
“Oh, look at that cute little family. They are always smiling. That couple must never disagree or get upset with their children.”

Often it seems that everyone else’s strength is magnified because I consider that same strength to be a personal weakness. For example, having always been a jeans and a t-shirt kind of girl, it has taken me years to get over being intimidated by women who accessorize and dress fashionably.

So when friends throw terms like “super mom” at me, I just laugh. Let’s be real here. After working with a house full of stomach flu sick children last week, this mom was ready to walk out and find another job. Pretty sure a “super mom” would be relishing in the fact that she could nurse people back to health and scrub down bathrooms five times a day and four times a night. That was most decidedly NOT me.

And that’s okay.

I believe God loves effort. As long as we’re trying, I believe He will happily make up the difference when our puny efforts fall short.

So if you have to wipe off your socks every five steps across my dirty floor and my counters are unseen, covered by a recycle bin’s worth of papers from four schools and my baby is still running around in this morning’s onsie pajamas at the end of the day, please forgive me for being human.

Actually, this statement by Linda K. Reeves is something I cling to on the days my housework feels like shoveling the sidewalk during a blizzard: “It is okay if the house is a mess and the children are still in their pajamas and some responsibilities are left undone. The only things that really need to be accomplished in the home are daily scripture study and prayer and weekly family home evening.”

Those are three things I can do. Everything else is a work in progress.