Maybe Motherhood Isn't Supposed to be Easy

I think every mother out there would agree at one point or another we’ve wished raising littles could be easier. Our culture is obsessed with finding the quickest way to do things. We want to avoid the hard but still reap the benefits. Abs in 10 minutes? Get rich in 30 days? Lose weight right now? Yes, yes, yes please.

So when the sleepless nights come, when it’s hard to keep breastfeeding and you just want your body back, when the thought of bringing up little people is heavy and hard and your hormones are out of whack and your life is upside down, it’s hard to not wish for an easy button. Parenting in 10 minutes. Selfless children in 30 days. Lose the guilt now.

But what if it’s not meant to be easy? If you do a Google search, refinement is defined as, “the process of removing impurities or unwanted elements from a substance.” The Bible talks about God purifying us as one might purify silver, blowing away all the dross and impurities to reveal only the parts that are wanted (Isaiah 1:25). Often those impurities or unwanted elements are wrought deep within us, woven into the very fabric of who we think we are. So of course the process of removing the dross is going to be hard. It’s going to be painful. It’s going to be work we likely don’t feel like doing but work that we’ll be called to until we’re called Home.

I believe parenting is a huge part of that refining work. While I’ve been in the game for less than a year, I already feel the pain of pulling out the threads of unwanted elements that have been woven in over the tapestry of my life.

 But God is faithful. This hard work is holy work. It’s His work. And though it’s hard and we often don’t want it, I wholly believe if we’re faithful to the hard and lean into the lessons He’s trying to teach, we’ll be able to look back at the end of our lives and see He was faithful. We’ll see how he took the dross that dragged us down and turned us into gleaming silver; precious children in whom His heart delights. So keep going. It’s hard, it hurts, but it’ll be worth it. And those sweet littles you’re smooching? They’ll be all the better for your perseverance and faithfulness.