Moments

I love these moments

and these....

and these too...

and definitely these...

But you know what? Some days, these moments are the only thing keeping me going. When diapers need to be washed and they scream "WASH ME PLEASE!!!" from the pail in the bathroom. When sleep is a distant memory and you can't remember the last time you slept for more than 3 hours at one time. When hubby comes home from lunch early to find there's no food on the stove, in fact, his wife hasn't even thought of what to make yet.... When a child demands your every waking moment and you can't seem to even catch a moment to yourself. When your hair is greasy and your mascara spends more time looking like black saggy bags underneath your eyes than upbeat and on your eyelashes. Those are the days when life gets hard, when life as a mom truly becomes a labor of love and a life of true surrender to Jesus Christ. Because on those days, all we can do is sink to our knees and weep saying, 

"Lord, there is NO way I can make it through this day on my own, 

but somehow these moments keep ticking by, so I need Your help. 

I need Your strength to make it through the next five minutes. 

I need Your patience to juggle children and cooking and laundry 

and cleaning. I need Your peace to know that this calling is worth it. 

And I need Your help to be thankful because these moments 

that seem so hard...well they will only be here for so long and 

someday I'll be wishing they were back. Come Lord Jesus 

and be present here with me today, right now, 

even in my weary and helpless state."

And then somehow, God is so gracious to remind me of the blessings of this beautiful labor of love. He brings me up out of the depths of despair with reminders of the little joys that break up the hard days. The gentle touch of tiny fingers tickling your side as he eats in the middle of the night. The big eyes that watch you intently while you read him a Bible story before bed. The sheer joy in his body as he wiggles and squiggles in your lap. The surprised look on his face when he discovers something new. The giggles bubbling up from his soul as his belly is tickled. The sighs in the night as he slumbers peacefully while you sit by his crib with tears streaming down your face, wishing that these moments would last forever. 

God is good, and this labor of love...well, it can sometimes be like the Sea of Galilee, you never know when a storm will kick up and rock your world (literally). But remember that story in the Bible? Remember what happened in that big storm where the disciples had been rowing for probably 9+ hours and thought they weren't going to make it? Yeah, Jesus came to the rescue. He literally walked on the water in that storm and came exactly to where his disciples were struggling, right into the thick of it....and he brought peace to them in that storm. He brought peace to them. What a beautiful hope we can have in Him when we are going through the storms of life and motherhood when we feel like the next wave will sink us for certain. He is always there, always ready to bring peace to us in the storm.