October 28: Write 31 Days: The Discipleship that is Motherhood
Sometimes the best kind of discipleship--
the vessel that lays down ones life
and instead takes up His--
is the kind in which you have no choice.
I suppose there's always a choice,
but in vocations like Motherhood
you can't send the children back,
as much as you want to some days.
It's a forcible dying to self before
the child even enters the world.
The change of diet and drinking habits,
of sleeping and bathroom breaks.
It's a loss of modesty in the mess
of it all, in the casting of your body
aside to give life to another.
Life that changes yours forever.
It's sacrificed sleep and sanity, too,
to care for the sweet babe.
Feeding schedules, dirty diapers
and more consume your life.
Their needs first; your needs last.
More experienced moms say that
this too shall pass, but in the trenches
of long days it's hard to understand.
The self does not go willingly but
Flails and stomps and storms about.
Even mothers have an inner toddler who
Could use to learn a lesson or two.
Over time you realize the joy that comes
with serving others first. The love and
satisfaction that comes in frequent bursts.
And you slowly start to conceive that
The "important" things you cared about
don't really matter all that much.
Because new life always springs from
the One who was broken for us.