If the Guggy Ain’t Happy…
I am slowly coming to terms with the fact that I am not EarthMama, nor am I Super Mom. I just want to survive my children’s early years with a sane mind and a humble heart. Oh, and a happy marriage. Can’t forget that.
This doesn’t mean I don’t want the best for my kids because I truly desire that, but there are things that are more important than the healthiest food and the greenest form of diapering. More important than spotless floors and shiny mirrors. I am not going to wear myself out trying to make everything look perfect on the outside, when in reality my magazine looking home is one of chaos and turmoil. I don’t have it in me to pretend.
I’m not saying that I will be feeding my kids sugar for every meal and will be tossing veggies out the window. That’s ridiculous and irresponsible. What I am saying is that if I forget to put a vegetable on the table for dinner a night or forget to cut fruit for lunch time…I’m not going to sweat it. People have survived on less.
And my house will not be falling down around me while I give up totally on cleaning it…oh, how I wish I could ignore the household chores that call my name! What I am saying is that if it’s 8 o’clock at night and the kitchen floor still needs to be scrubbed, then it will be waiting for me the next day (or the day after that). I am not going to sacrifice spending quality time alone with my hubby just so the floors are clean. And, if by chance you do come to visit and see crumbs on the floor and dust on the shelves…keep it to yourself. :-) I can’t help it if you are jealous of my free-spiritedness. ;-)
Overall, let’s just say this: My children deserve a happy mom. They deserve a mother who is striving to be more Christ-like. They deserve a mother who is fostering a deeper relationship with her husband, their father. Trying to fit into a mold that society, friends, and family are saying I should be fitting into will not make me a happy Guggy. My only concern should be what God desires of me in the roles He has placed me in. I need to remember that my self-worth is in Him and not the fact that I was able to nurse my new baby and cloth diaper while homeschooling my eldest. That does not make me Super Mom.
Being a good Mama doesn’t mean having to be able to do it all. So what if the woman down the street can make every meal from scratch? So what if another lady can bear many children and still have floors you can eat off of? And so what if she can mow the grass while pregnant and carrying another little one in a backpack? God didn’t call me to be able to do all that. God has called me to abide in Him. God has called me to be the wife, mother, daughter He desires me to be. Even though someday I may be able to do some of the things I would like to be able to do like making everything from scratch or being able to harvest veggies from my own garden while still being able to maintain an immaculate home, the season of life that I am in right now does not afford me to be able to do all of that and still be sane.
To me, being Super Mom is being able to admit my shortcomings. I am still striving to grow. I haven’t given up on that at all. But, I am learning the shape of my family will be different from the shapes of others. And that’s okay. There is no reason to have guilt or shame over it. And there is no reason why other women should be attempting to guilt or shame others into doing it “their” way. That’s just plain ludicrous. If God had wanted us to all be the same type of mother then there would have been some cookie-cutter mold we all would’ve had to step into before giving birth. How sane does that seem? …A little Stepford-ish, maybe?
All in all, I maintain this:
If the Guggy ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy…
And, if dirty floors and unwashed children mean bliss, then by all means, let them eat cake!
;-)
