Read number five.
The way she is.
Not for being perfect.
Not for having moments where she keeps her cool but really goes crazy.
Not for always having homemade cookies or cool projects with glitter and notes in lunch boxes.
Not for never being late.
Not for any of that stuff.
Just the way she is.
The other day, in the Finding Joy Moms Group, a sweet mom, Ashley, shared that above picture of her daughter’s homework and shared about how reading how her daughter loves her just the ways she is brought her to tears.
It brought me to tears too. You know why?
Sometimes I think we’re a bit hard on ourselves. Sometimes I know we just work and give and work and give and just hope those kids that call us mom love what we do. Sometimes we don’t see us the way our kids see us.
We see the rips and tears and wrappers left on the floor. We see the times we were late and the fact that it was boxed macaroni and cheese. We see the inside parts of us just wishing for just a moment of quiet and we know we should be trying to love the moment but really we want it to be bedtime.
Our kids probably don’t see us the way we see us.
They see their mom.
They don’t see the flaws and the mistakes that we think we’ve made.
They see someone who shows up. Who loves. Who apologizes when she needs to. Who makes them dinner. Who packs their lunch. Who reminds them to get gloves. Who goes to teacher conferences. Who tidies their rooms.
Their mom.
Maybe we, too, need to start to love us just the way we are.
Maybe our flaws and where we are so hard on ourselves is clouding the beauty of the ordinary.
Maybe, just maybe, in this massive race of motherhood we can, for a moment, stop and breathe and think a simple, but truly perspective changing thought.
I’m doing well.
Doing well.
Just the way we are.
~Rachel
thank you, Ashley, for sharing your story, your words and your heart. You will bless so many moms who needed the simple reminder about how they just might be perfect just the way they are right now.
