It’s almost OUR day, fellow mums. I don’t know if you’ll get flowers, a sprinkled donut, breakfast in bed, a card. Maybe all of it; maybe none of it. What I needed most when raising my 6 kids was a shield, combat boots, a referee uniform, a helmet, a sheriff’s badge, a taser, my own bathroom and a dozen coupons for a day to myself. (Just kidding on the taser. But remember——5 boys. In a row. Alaskan boys. See?)

AND——I needed some truth. Some real truth to get me through. NOT the placebo kind. Not the fake Christian kind that used to be so common, based on formulas, guilt, behaviorism and perfectionism. I needed God’s love and truth to fill in the vast gaps of all I hadn’t known about mothers and mothering myself.

Here’s some of what I discovered (and probably you too) over the last 3 decades:

They DO grow up. And all those fears—-almost every one of them—-has not come true. ( No one has permanently maimed a sibling. [Or anyone.] No one is an anarchist. No one is a professional gamer. No one has burned a house down.) In fact, they’re pretty wonderful! (And so are their spouses.)

And It’s not over, thank God. I still get to be their mother and now friend. And this very week we are awaiting the birth of our third grandbabe.

Love never ends; it only grows and catches and multiplies.

May I end with a blessing? This from my friend Daniel Darling:

We ask you to be the daily bread of tired mothers. We ask you to be their living water. We ask you to be their source of spiritual and physical strength. We pray that the same grace that flowed from Father to Son to us in salvation will flow from mothers to their children. We pray that each mother rejects perfectionism and instead embraces the goodness of the gospel. We pray the rhythms of repentance and forgiveness shape every home.

Most of all, Lord, on this day in which we honor mothers, may we love and cherish the special women who have born us, who have nurtured us, and who have prayed for our well-being. May our hearts overflow with gratitude to you, who formed and knitted each of us in a mother’s womb.  Amen.  - Daniel Darling

Who needs to hear these freeing truths? I’m giving away 10 books this week! Here’s how to enter:

1. Share this post on your social media and let me know in the comments below.

2. Include your email address so I can let you know if you won!

   Winners will be chosen and announced this next week (and books sent out asap!)