Yep. Some days my kids drive me crazy :)
To be a mom (or dad) is to be needed.
Constantly .
"Can I have a snack?"
"More Elmo?"
"I want to play another game of Candyland!"
"Take me to the park!"
The requests, they never cease. They follow you to the bathroom, keep you from feeding yourself, getting any rest or just generally acknowledging your own existence or needs.
It can drive you crazy.
Naturally we want to think of ourselves first, put our own needs before anyone else. It's just not natural to put other people before you- being a parent, it's not natural.
I know that sounds strange, but I think it is really freeing to know that it is okay that I don't always have it together or that I don't always love every moment of the selfless act of being a parent. And that honestly, it feels like something I am learning daily, it is not something I have mastered or ever will.
It is hard. It wears on your sanity and tests you in ways you never have before.
And on top of it all, we are expected to have it together before the world and God.
But, yeah, that is never what was asked of us. We weren't asked to be perfect or together or always loving the hard stuff.
It's okay to feel like your kids are driving you crazy. It's okay to feel like you are failing or that everything is a mess because it reminds us that we too are needy and that we have a Father who will always be there to get us through, because He is perfect and his well never runs dry. The weight is off our shoulders at that point.
We are free to be the best imperfect, crazy out of our mind parents- honest and real before our kids and honestly loving them the best possible way by leaning onto a strength beyond us, so that they learn to do the same.
So, all you stressed out, crazy parents know that you are beautiful in your imperfection, in your trying and your failing and your endless giving. You have a God that has your back in this.
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