Marriage and Motherhood=Perfection (NOT)

Marriage and Motherhood….Both are Perfect (NOT) Give it up!!

My marriage is perfect, my children were and still are perfect, my life is basically perfect….REALLY?

That’s what I want to say to those who profess this! The one thing I never, ever want to do is sound like my life in these areas have been perfect! Trust me, they have not been anywhere close. If there is one thing that gets on my nerves it is people who profess perfection and then don’t even have any life experiences or truth in which to base this condition!! My pet peeve. There I said it. I actually didn’t say everything that goes through my mind, I would be in lots of trouble….

I have been married 34 years to my high school sweetheart. We have been together for 37 years. So we have literally grown up together. We have been through so much together, and learned in that process. Nothing prepares you for marriage. Nothing. Not all the “expert” books and articles. Nothing. From getting adjusted to way your spouse puts the toilet paper on the roll ….to how you will handle illness or the death of a loved one together…NOTHING will prepare you.

My children were exactly 2 and 1/2 years apart. It is easy as a mother of adults now to look back at those years and remember only the good times. But there were bad times. Nothing prepares you for motherhood..nothing. At all. Nothing. From being pregnant with another person growing inside you……to staying up on the couch pretending to be awake while waiting on your teenager to come home…NOTHING prepares you for that.

NOTHING prepares you for these things. But Someone will be with you through all those things. The Father will. If there is one thing I have learned through the years that has proven invaluable to me it is to I had to learn to give it up My titles as “wife” and “mother”had to be set aside sometimes. I had to let Jesus be Jesus in me. When my husband was upset with me..my first response was so full of my flesh. I have learned over the years that I had to get rid of me and see him as Jesus saw him. I had to love him as Jesus loved him. I had to give up my needs at that time and listen to him. And trust me, I could not do that on my own…at all.

When one of the boys would come to me with a heavy heart and tell me something (while acting like I had truly been awake watching television..you do what you have to) that as a mother I really did not want to hear…I had to give up. I had to respond to him as Jesus would. I couldn’t let my pride get in the way. I couldn’t let my motherhood throw out advice. I had to give that all up and love him like Jesus, point him to Jesus.

Minister to your family. Give it up. Don’t try to do it in your own strength. You won’t be perfect, your marriage won’t be perfect, your kids won’t be perfect. Only HE is perfect. So “give it up” friend!!!

Psalm 18:30: “As for God, his way is perfect: The Lord’s word is flawless; he shields all who take refuge in him.”

2 Corinthians 12:9: “But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.”