Top 10 Mommy Commandments

I'm in a bit of a mood this month. Work is stressful. Extended family is a little stressful. My kitchen still has Christmas stuff up. Kids are giving me a run for my money daily. What's a girl to do?

I'm trying my best to take it one day at a time. One moment at a time even. Slowing down and asking myself at the end of the day what really matters. I keep pondering the words of a speaker that I was blessed to get to hear last week at my M.O.M.S group. She was a regular mom just like me. A confessed imperfect mom. I loved a lot of what she had to say. One of my favorites was that our life experiences shape our ministry. How very true. However, I'm still wrapping my mind around the idea that my mothering of my children and my role as wife to my husband is a ministry in itself.

The other thing she mentioned was that she kept a framed "Top 10 Mom Commandments" for herself in her home and had given her children copies. Ten things she kept herself accountable for in her ministry of motherhood. Each was shaped by her life experiences and very close to her heart. Also, they were all things she felt she needed to often remind herself of and each were tied to scripture. Her first one was "always be a lady of courage." Her sister had died young of cancer, but she had done it with such great courage. It was something that left a lasting impression on her and shaped her life, her soul and her very motherhood. The remaining nine, were about listening, believing, praying, celebrating and so on. Each with a verse that accompanied. I wish I'd had paper with me to write it all down, but just maybe that wasn't the point. Truly a list of my own wouldn't look exactly like her list. It would be all me with some grace sprinkled in from above.

What an inspiring idea indeed! Each of us have experiences that have shaped us to our very core. Experiences that really define much of who we are and what we stand for in our lives. Experience that shape our motherhood. I'm not quite sure I'd call mine Top 10 Mommy Commandments, but possibly a Top 10 Mommy Play List? I do love music and often find inspiration in song lyrics, and I do happen to be a wife of a coach too. Hmmm...

The wheels are turning. I see a list of my own taking form and coming soon. Stay tuned.

Nurture the Sacred Within

Tonight was the first evening of a M.O.M.S group at my church. I wasn't quite sure what to expect. My only other experience was a moms group at my previous parish, and I only made it to a few meetings due to it being during the day and I work full time. I was thrilled when I saw the opportunity come up for this group in the evenings at our new church.

I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed this first night. I hadn't realized, but it's been some time since I took time to nurture the sacred within myself. I was definitely due. I've always felt it's a blessing to be a mother, and I take great awe in the gift that God has given me in our children. I know am truly blessed. But sometimes I think motherhood can be overwhelming too and can get the best of us and our good intentions. We need to take time out to be quiet in the Lord, time to strengthen our spirits and refresh our souls, time to open our hearts and let the Lord speak to us and guide our daily steps and our very motherhood.

I'm glad I took a time-out tonight and journeyed to the M.O.M.S group this evening. It lifted my spirit and reminded me that motherhood in its self is a ministry. I'm called to minister to my husband and my sweet sugar pies in all I do each and every day, no matter if it's doing the dishes, laundry or putting a band-aid on some one's knee. I'm called to do it all in His name and with love.

There's a picture that I adore. It's called the Polish Madonna. It always reminds me that no matter how hard things are, how tired I get or how thankless a chore may seem...Mary was there before me. She did laundry just like me, she potty trained Jesus just like I potty trained my little ones, she wiped His little mouth, she snuggled Jesus in her arms before bed and so much more. She walked this very path I walk as I mother my children. What a beautiful role model Jesus has given us through her.

So dear friends take care to always nurture the sacred within. It only betters the woman within as she works on her own holiness and her own ministry of motherhood.