Being a Good Mom May be Easier Than You Think

Being a good mom may be easier than you think. This week is all about relaxing and taking it easy.  In fact, why don’t you go get some tea or coffee, put up your feet and sink a little deeper into your chair?  Sound good?  Ready? Let’s dive in.

Moms work hard.  We work at being good…at everything.  We wipe bottoms and noses and counters and toilets until we are dead tired.  We bake meals, read books, carpool, break up fights, teach them to tie shoes and…

I am tired just thinking of all of the things that we do in a day.

I feel so strongly that God wants to say to us “Relax dear one.  Take a break.  Kick your shoes off and drink in my grace.  Let me tell you about how I produce fruit {goodness} in your life.”

Being a really good mom is all about stepping into who God has already said that we are.  It’s not about striving to be something.  We already know that the striving doesn’t work.  I mean, if it did, we would already have this all down and not be drawn to read something that tells us how to be a good mom.  Right?

I have good news for you…

I believe that God’s Word is so much more grace filled than we often realize. He offers us an opportunity to rest in Him and His goodness and we often mistake it as a list of ways we need to work or do things better {can anyone say guilt trip a.k.a. condemnation?}.

Before I experienced God as amazingly loving, I used to read the Bible and feel that He could be harsh and impossible to please.  BUT as I received a revelation of His love I began to see His passion for His people on the pages as I read His heart.  And grace abounds throughout the words on the page.

I had been been striving for so long to produce fruit: good fruit. I wanted to have all of my actions be filtered through love. I desired to be joyful and not cranky.  I longed to have extra patience and self control.  These are all things that a good mom desires right?  Good. Sweet. Fruit. Flowing out of her and spilling on everyone around her.  If I am filled with the Spirit I will produce things beyond myself that are pleasant to others.

This is what I am learning though:

God IS the fruit that we strive to have in our lives.  It’s not just what we desire, seek and try hard to cultivate in our lives.  It is what He IS…

He is kind

He is good

He is faithful

He is patient

He is love

He is joy

He is gentle

He is self control

So if He is in us, working through us, we are really and truly reflecting Him and not some cleaned up, good, version of us.  The fruit of the Spirit is just that: Evidence of Him working in our lives and not something we are striving to become.

See what I mean by “grace filled?” God doesn’t expect us to do any of this on our own.  We simply let Him fill us and flow out of us.

 He must become greater and greater, and I must become less and less. John 3:30

Be blessed today as you lean heavy into Him.  Rest in His ability to be good in you and through you.  You will never be a good mom apart from Him but the amazing news is that He does the work to get you there.  

Now I wish I could give you all the day off {smile}.

Have you been striving to be good?  Do you work to try to produce the fruit of the Spirit in your life?  How does it make you feel to know that it isn’t your work but God’s to do in you?  I’d love to hear your thoughts today!!

Did you miss parts 1-3 of the How to Really be a Good Mom Series?  Find them all here.