Ministering Motherhood

Motherhood is absolutely a ministry, but I think sometimes we think about that all wrong. Yes, we are ministering when we show Jesus's love to our kids, when we teach them the truth and daily point them towards the Savior. BUT motherhood ministers to the mothers too.

Daily interactions will continually put you at the feet of the cross if you are looking for them. I had one of these moments last week. We have been starting to teeth and going through a growth spurt. So our lives have looked like lots of spit up, lots of crying by everyone, lots of laundry, lots of cuddles, lots of nursing and a lot less sleeping.

On Thursday last week I was attempting to get my daughter down for a morning nap I tried before I took a shower with no luck, so I laid her little gym out on my bedroom floor where she would be safe and took a quick shower. Thankfully there were no tears until after I was out of the shower. I quickly through on my clothes an scooped her up to nurse. After a little bit I could tell that she was just using me as a pacifier.

My daughter doesn't really love pacifiers for the most part she just uses me, which 95% of the time I am just fine with. However, this particular morning I really just wanted to finish getting ready. So I thought that I would switch me for the pacifier and perhaps she wouldn't notice. She immediately rejected it and started searching for me again. I laughed at her defiance, but then it got me thinking. She desired the real thing, she wasn't going to be satisfied with the imitation and that is the kind of heart that I want to instill in her. I don't want her to settle for the imitation.

Not just with pacifiers, but with life. Only God can truly satisfy us. God and His truth. Nothing compares to that and nothing else will ever give us true satisfraction. Yet so often we settle or seek imitations to satisfy us. We chase after things of this world to pacify our sadness, loneliness, grief or pain. Until we seek Jesus in to heal us and comfort us we are going to be like my daughter was, anxiously searching for the real thing.

This week we are celebrating one of my favorite holidays, Easter. Last year I told my husband that I loved it because it was Christmas in the spring. He laughed but it is so true. Without Easter, Christmas looses all it's significance. Without Jesus's sacrifice on the cross AND His resurrection Christmas becomes just another person's birthday to celebrate. The cross and His sacrifice for our lives is what makes Him our Savior. Praise God that He was willing to under-go such brutality for the sake of our hearts. He is the truth that a broken and hurting world is crying out for. Nothing will heal the incredible evil and grief infecting earth except Him. We can hold onto the hope, the truth, that He is not leaving us here. He is coming back to rescue His people. To bring us home to heaven with Him. Where all will be restored and the pain of this life will pass away. He will wipe all the tears from our eyes.

Until then though friend, my encouragement to you is to not stop searching. Don't stop searching for the truth. Don't be pacified with the imitations surrounding us. Get in the word. Arm yourself with the gospel so that when Jesus does return we are ready. Ready and waiting to hear the sweetest words one could ever speak to us. "Well done good and faithful servant, welcome home"