Saturday, January 28, 2012

Run your own race!

A few days ago I saw a friends post on Facebook. She was commenting on being a working mother and feeling guilty when others say how important it is to be a stay at home mom. I felt her pain immediately. At this very moment I don't even remember who wrote this post but I know it is a common feeling among working mothers. So I decided to encourage all of us in running our own race in this life.

I remember being a new mother and struggling with breastfeeding. I had so many people telling me how important it was for my baby to get those first few weeks of breast milk. I remember feeling ashamed and embarrassed when I gave up and went to formula. Then there was the struggle with the boys sleeping with us. How many of you have had a family member or friend tell you how BIG of a mistake you were making in allowing your children to sleep with you? I remember trying to find just one person to tell me I was doing a good job. Just one person to tell me I wasn't ruining my kids. Even when I got someone to tell me I was okay, it still didn't seem to help. For every one person who encouraged me, there were five who told me I needed to do something different. The list could go on and on. How long is the pacifier acceptable? What is the appropriate form of discipline? I'm not going to continue because it hurts my head just thinking about it. But you know exactly what I am talking about. We all have our own stories.

This is why I write. IT'S YOUR LIFE!!!!! I am 35 years old. I've been married 11 years and I have an 8 year old child and an almost 6 year old child. I have finally figured out that this is my life. I am the one that woke up in the wee hours of the morning to feed my child. Was I a better mom for breast feeding or a better mom for getting some needed rest while dad took a shift feeding the bottle of formula? In the early 1900's, families lived in one room houses. Six kids shared a room with mom and dad. Did this ruin these children? Is your child ruined if he is encouraged to cry himself to sleep to develop a sleep pattern or if you rock him to sleep every night for the first year? People, there are far greater issues in this world. What works for you and your household? There is lots of great advice out there. Your mother and neighbor may have tons of wisdom. You may have a collection of best selling books on a plethora of topics. But their thoughts, opinions and ideas may not work for you. Just because they made the NY best-sellers list does not make them right in your situation.

To the mother who works out of the house every day, you are no worse or better for your choice. This does not define a great mother. What defines us in life is how we love each other. Do those in your life feel safe, loved and important to you? There are stay at home moms who are so focused on their soap operas and computer games that their children are raising themselves. There are also working mom's who come home refreshed and ready to give their children all the love and attention possible until bed time. Don't let others judge you for your choices in life. Let God direct you in every decision you make. You must live with your decisions and if it works for you and yours then GO FOR IT!

Be confident in who you are and what you do. Matthew 6:33, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." This is why a personal relationship with Jesus is so important. He is the only one who will give great advice every time.

Hebrews 11:1, "And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us." It's your race so run it!

5 comments:

  1. AMEN HEATHER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    Excellent post!!!!!

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  2. SUPER GREAT post, Heather! I doubt there is one mother walking the face of the earth that doesn't deal with this in some way! GOOD WORD! Thank you!

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  3. It is soo funny that you should write this particular post as I have found myself knee deep in a "debate" with another blogger who was criticizing another blogger for saying that she really didn't "enjoy" being a "stay at home mom", and housework and the like were not on her list of things she actually enjoyed. It was leading to depression in her life. So she worked out a solution for her situation which involved putting her children in daycare for a bit and her husband was going to help out more with the chores at home. It was working out well FOR THEM. This woman accused her of "being in sin" and encouraging other women (she was a pastors wife) to sin as well. Accused her of not being self sacrificing, and wanting others to validate her decision to "feed her flesh" and do what she FELT like doing. I honestly could not believe how many women jumped on the bandwagon of agreeing with her (though none of them had actually even read the other woman's blog) encouraging her to scream it from the rooftops so to speak. I REALLY didn't want to get involved (there seems to be little point in these situations) but after praying for a couple of days about it, I went ahead and told her what I thought. Which was very similar to what you have written here. NONE of us is in any position to judge her. Especially as we hadn't even read the blog for ourselves. Every woman, circumstance and situation is different. Their backgrounds, personal journeys, and season in life DEFINITELY comes into play. As long as she and her Lord were OK on her decision, that is all that really mattered. Now I do agree that as mothers our first priority has got to be our children. Sadly, I do feel many do not keep that priority very straight. Some work out of "want" and not "need" and I think at times that can be dangerous too. I have seen a few women over the years come home from work soo tired and stressed there was NO time for much else and pour themselves a drink to "get through the night". But I have also seem many who were just like you described. Ready to spend REAL quality time with their kids. I never want to be guilty of judging rather a particular women is doing what is right or not. I think what we all need to do is to encourage one another with our personal walks with Jesus, to press on when we are tired in our walks to reach those goals He has for us, and STOP criticizing one another....especially our sisters in the Lord. I have doing my devotions in James this week and have spent a great deal of time considering the destructive power of the tongue. This verse in proverbs should be our goal..

    Proverbs 16:24 Pleasant words are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the bones.

    Thank you for posting such an encouraging and "sweet to the soul" blog.

    Debbie Class

    OH, and would love to say my opinion was received and considered, but sadly it was not. There was never another woman who shared my views. Maybe this particular woman has mainly only women who read it go to their particular church and kind of all think the same way I don't know. But I just found the whole thing sad.

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  4. Sorry, it is me again, haha.. I just thought you might enjoy a post I wrote about a week ago that speaks about how fast we move from one season to another. It just proves the point again about how we shouldn't waste our time worrying about how others view us. All we need is our relationships with him....

    http://debsdailydribble.blogspot.com/2012/01/old-post-and-some-new-thoughts.html

    Debbie

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  5. Precious, just precious...Heather! Thank you for sharing....you are simply amazing!!!

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