Motherhood as a MINISTRY??!

`This week I have been thinking about the "JOB" of motherhood...maybe parenting in general as I chat with Ry, but since I am a mother, I'll go with that.

I think it's stemming from the fact that I currently am reading this book:

coupled with a video of an player from the Bulls I watched this week.

(which by the way, to my husband's delight I have become a huge fan!!)

I normally don't really follow sports stars too closely, but this one played in Omaha for college and I met him a few times. I'm not going to lie, I may have been head over heels in love with his tall socks & ability to hit from the three point line like an assassin (so maybe you know who it is:)!) in college...but now I really appreciate him for other reasons. Since he came to Chicago I have started seeing some articles around here & there about him personally, so out of curiosity have followed his story/work. In the video I watched, he was talking about his foundation and helping others and referred back constantly to the way he was raised and watching his parents love God and help others as the source of why he does what he does (which is by the way HELP lots of underprivileged children & their families in several states). It got me wondering about what it would be like to watch Griffin or Sawyer talk like that...live like that...and have a heart invested like that. It most certainly is what I want for their lives but as I was reminded by reading this book, just "thinking" that's how things will be or imagining the picture at the end but no steps in between isn't going to help me see that dream into reality. I am more than aware that I may do everything "right" and not get the results I am seeking either, but I have been thinking lately about a game plan...

More that just the "doing" of saying prayers at night and before meals and going to church. What I/we know I/we need is an attitude to approaching parenthood and I really do think that approaching it as a "ministry" is where I can really make some changes in my parenting that could make some impactful changes. For me, it is so easy to get caught up in the daily messes and blow out diapers and spills and clean-mess up cycle to really value my daily interactions with my kids as ministry...embarrassing to admit, but true. I get weighed down in thinking that I am not really doing anything to better myself, help others or make a difference for anyone by making meals and changing diapers. I have heard and BELIEVED a thousand different people say that motherhood is a ministry and my most important one at that, but I haven't ever stopped to think about what that entails. Here's what I have come up with so far....

God gave me built in people to disciple.

(for my crusade friends: I don't even have to knock on their door and share the 4 spiritual laws with them as I introduce myself, haha!!)

He not only created them, he had me in mind for them while he was doing it. There's a reason that they were placed in my hands for these precious few years I have with them while they are growing, it's because what meager skills I have can be used to minister to them, so they in turn can use their lives to touch others. It's a huge job, it's a full time ministry position where every mistake and weakness and downfall is exposed to them and they will still hopefully come out knowing that they are loved, prayed for, protected and believed in not only by me but also by the God of the universe.

It sounds over whelming. Ry & I sat in silence the other night fathoming the task.

What have we gotten ourselves into??!!??

I have decided to look at it as an adventure. And, pretty much God is going to take me on one whether I have decided that or not, so I am just embracing it, and buckling up! Haha!

It's really exciting to me that meals and changing clothes and driving from thing to thing may one day be looked back on as a lot of love & devotion, a place to jump from if you will...and inspire good things for others. I hope that's the case. And the truth is, even if that's not the outcome, it's still what God is asking me as a mom to do. Practice love, peace, patience, kindness...you know the whole fruit basket, and my kids do show me areas in there that need dusting CONSTANTLY. Crazy that God has looped all of this together, but as I get to know him more and more it doesn't surprise me in the least how all phases on life flow together into this really beautiful story of my life that is a just a small blip in the greatest story ever told, Jesus.

So I am praying about this. And thinking of things I would do if Griffin and Beanie were in my bible study in college to encourage them and build relationships with them. And for now I am going to bet it's going to be playing a lot of Cars but someday I may just be privileged enough to see the eyes of someone who was just shown Jesus by one of them.

#the reason for being a mom