Can You Learn To Be a Good Mom?

Photo: R.A. Navarrete

"Have you figured out managing five kids yet?" My co-worker asked me that today, and my response was: "no--I have not figured it out, and I probably never will--I am learning as I go."

On a good mommy day, I am able to sit here and blog about my successes. The fact that I have the time or energy or motivation to write instead of cleaning, cooking, sleeping, or just zoning out is evidence that there are some better days when I am not completely overwhelmed and stressed. Today, for example, has been a relatively uneventful day. Actually, I can't remember yelling at any of the kids today! I even had time to iron, which is always the first chore to get ignored every day among all the other chores that may or may not get done first. After I picked up the kids from school, they played outside, and I spent time by myself making Christmas gifts and cooking supper. Granted, the only way they went outside to play was for me to set a timer for an hour (plus) and say that they had to stay out for that long. It actually worked! And they had fun together!

But more often than not, I feel completely stressed and unable to do it all. The thought of being alone with five kids on those days causes me anxiety because I have no idea what we will do to fill the time and how we all will get along and how I will keep my sanity. The one reason that I can in any way do a decent job at mothering these children is Jesus. Jesus is the One who is the perfect example of self sacrifice and true love for children. It is appropriate to talk about this at Christmas because it is the celebration of when Jesus Christ was born. When Jesus was an adult, he welcomed the little children and said, "let the little children come unto me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these" (Matthew 19:14).

This morning as I was driving my 4-year-old to preschool, we saw a tiny rainbow in a cloud. It reminded me that Jesus gives us hope. He is our hope. But we have to look up in order to see the rainbow and receive the ray of hope to help us through whatever circumstances we are facing. Think about how Noah must have felt during and after the flood. But then God placed a rainbow in the sky as a promise to Noah that He would never destroy the earth by flood again. Are you in the middle of a flood in your current life? Look up to Jesus and receive the hope and peace that only He provides.