Before I liked my job...

I wonder if God ever had days where He was frustrated with His children the way I get frustrated with mine. Right now I am picturing God locking Himself in the bathroom, fan on, shower on, singing loudly... yes, I've done that. And it doesn't help.

In the beginning of my motherhood, I had a love/hate feeling toward my role as a mother. I used to do everything I could to be apart from my children, even when I wasn't frustrated. I didn't know what to do with them. Sometimes they weren't very pleasant. They always needed me. So, I enjoyed my time at work and then I would push them to be with their dads or aunts or grandparents or whoever, whenever I could. But if you asked me, I would have given that obligatory speech about how they were the most important things in my life.

I'm not sure when exactly my feelings changed. I think it was a gradual realization over time more than a light bulb moment. Especially in the past 6 or 7 years...

Actually, under all the junk, I did enjoy being a mom. I was just ashamed to say it... I never saw anyone else enjoying their children. I always heard about how moms were glad their kids were going back to school on Monday. I was always hearing about "me" time, about moms needing a break, and about that coveted career! I wasn't going to be the odd ball...

So, God worked in my heart. Slowly. He took each misguided thought I had learned about being a mom and replaced it with His ideas. I thank Him for being gentle with me.

He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young. Isaiah 40:11

I'm not a perfect mom at all. I might never be, depending on whose standards you use. As for me, I prefer God's standards.

God says much about mothers and their children. How mothers love, protect, and desire their children is mentioned often in the Bible. The fact that children were desired in the Bible is one of the things that sparked the change in me.

Here I was trying to escape my offspring, while Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel, Samson's mother, Hannah, Michal, and Elizabeth longed for, prayed for, and sought out even one child! Talk about taking something for granted. I had no appreciation for what God had given me.

God calls children his most precious blessing.

I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and will give them all these lands, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, Genesis 26:4 (God speaking to Isaac)

Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them. They will not be put to shame when they contend with their enemies in the gate. Psalm 127:5

Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house; your sons will be like olive shoots around your table. Psalm 128:3

He will love you and bless you, and he will give you many children. Deuteronomy 7:13

Aside from our relationship with Jesus, there is no higher prize than children. Yet the world says they are an inconvenience... a burden... too much trouble. This world is full of lies, lies that make sense to our worldy hearts, lies that rob us of the blessings God has for us. I have been guilty of believing them.

But no more... Now, my husband and I will gladly accept whatever God has to offer us. As a matter of fact, we look forward to more children. And to those who say we are crazy or foolish:

Instead, God chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise... 1 Corinthians 1:27