Mom Won

This past Sunday I was getting ready to go to church. I called my girls down to breakfast. The second eldest appeared at the top of the stairs, helping my youngest stumble down the stairs. The youngest was pale and crying that her ear hurt. As she reached the bottom of the stairs and I scooped her up, I could tell she also had a fever. Obviously, church was not going to be part of her day. 

I discussed the options with my husband and he offered to stay home with her so I could go to church. My mind raced at multi-tasking speed through that possibility. He could stay home…I could go teach my class…I could enjoy the time with friends…I could be fed spiritually by the sermon…He could get food ready for lunch when the rest of us came back home.

Something inside of me said, “Stop.”

Perhaps I had reached my limit of juggling all my roles to make sure I had done everything. Perhaps I wasn’t feeling completely healthy myself. But I knew I was supposed to stop all else and be a mom. Everything else could wait or be done by someone else that time. That morning, my baby needed me and I needed to be available for her.

Learning to discern which role is the most pressing at any given moment is a difficult and challenging task. There are no magic formulas for how to balance all of it. The balance is going to look different for each woman; it’s also going to change as you grow through different seasons in your life. As I shared, this time being a mom won. Sometimes I need to walk away and let my husband be a daddy while I grow in another role. Sometimes I need to stop all else and sit at the feet of Jesus. At another time, a friend’s need may be great and I share my time with them. And yes, sometimes we must even make our home the priority to provide a safe, clean environment for our families and friends.

I have learned only one answer that will help different women balance different roles. I quote from my book,Seven Roles, One Woman: You Expect Me to Do All That? We should not dwell on “things like a clean house, making our own clothes, working ourselves to death, preparing beautiful feasts for every meal, keeping all the laundry done, climbing the corporate ladder, or anything of this world that keeps us from what is truly important – the things of God. All of those tasks are good things to do, but unless we do them as unto the Lord, they are just works that will wear us out and have no lasting benefit. Colossians 3:23-24 says, ‘Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.’”

And above all the other roles, remember it is "a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised" (Proverbs 31:30).