You Are Irreplaceable

I am not a fun mom.

I don’t often take the time to play with my kids.

I’m focused on productivity. What’s next? Get it done. I don’t sit still, I don’t hang out. I have a hard time NOT doing two things at once. Watching TV? Fold laundry. Listening to a child read? Straighten up the bedroom.

Please don’t scold me. I should treasure these moments, I know I should. But, I’m just so used to moving fast that I forget to stop and enjoy the journey. I’ll try to do better. I promise!

I always find it amazing how much I get out of going around to different churches and MOPS groups. They invite me in to speak and share with them. I always come away with a pocketful (and sometimes more) of grace and encouragement myself.

Sunday, I heard a sweet mom named Ashley speak of how she felt she wasn’t a good mom. She spoke of her fatigue, working full time and caring for a preschooler. She felt she should be cooking more, cleaning more, doing more.

But then she said something that hung in the air, perfect and beautiful, manna from heaven.

“But despite all that, I know that to my family I am irreplaceable.”

Did you feel that?! It was like a blast of cold water in the face, wasn’t it?

Despite how little we think we’re doing, the bottom line is…to our families? We are irreplaceable.

The same group of women, we sat and thought about the Lie of the Inner You Stink. 

A mom sitting next to me wrote this on her card. I’m sure we all could have written the same thing.

When I look at myself this way, when I stop and think…

I did play a few rounds of Mille Bornes last week.

I kissed them last night, just as I almost always do, tucking long-legged limbs back under covers and tugging them into the center of their beds so they don’t find themselves on the floor with the next dreamy sword-fight.

I stayed up late, making clean uniforms and matching socks appear magically on the foot of their beds, like I almost always do.

Perhaps I’m doing more than I give myself credit for.

But then she turned it over and wrote this. Irreplaceable.

I make sure that the after-school snacks are a variety of awesome (chocolate) and healthy (bananas).

I am tooth fairy, laundry fairy, and Dinnertime Ninja. I can simultaneously correct homework, prepare dinner and load the dishwasher.

I give out hugs liberally and often. I tickle and give raspberry kisses on demand. I read them bedtime stories even when I’m tired, and I am teaching our new dog to kiss them goodnight.

But most importantly?

I am their mom, and I am irreplaceable.

Your turn! What are you doing right?

Did you like this post? You might also like:

Perfectly Imperfect, Seeing Ourselves For What We Truly Are

Baxter Kruger on The Inner “You Stink”

Manifesto: A Cease Fire From a Working Mom

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