Moms, happy mother’s day to all of you!

It is my prayer that you will continue to find extraordinary joy in the seemingly ordinary things you do each day. I pray that you will be strengthened in every way— to do the tasks that are expected from you, as you fulfill the roles entrusted to you. As you look forward to seeing the fruit of all your labor ten, twenty years down the road, may you find complete satisfaction and peace in the knowledge that you are right where God has called you to be, doing the very things he has assigned you to do. I pray that you will continue to be filled with wisdom and much grace as you shepherd the hearts of your children. May you be reminded today and always of how much of a treasure you are, not just in the lives of your children, but in the generations to come after them.

I once heard somebody say that out of all the relationships we are blessed with on this earth, that of being a parent to our children is the one that will eventually require us to “let go”. In that sense, we can say that our parenting “task” is temporary. We only have a few years given to us to mold and teach our children. After which, we must trust that the seeds we have planted into their hearts and minds will bear lasting fruit. We must trust that all the teaching and training we have deposited into their lives will pay off and be a blessing to them, so they can be a blessing to the world they are in.

Our task is temporary, but our role— and the outcome of fulfilling our roles— affect eternity.

Have a wonderful day, mom-friends! You are blessed!

I was having dinner with another mom last weekend and we got into the following conversation:

ME: “So how do you spend most of your day?” (I know this mom is involved in their business)

MOM: “Work talaga. My whole day is spent at the office.”

ME: “Wow! Kaya mo? Good for you! Galing mo naman.” (Seriously, I admire moms who are able to manage work plus mommy-hood. My hat’s off to you!)

MOM: “Yeah, kaya naman. I manage. What about you?”

ME: “Well, most of my days are really spent at home with the kids.”

MOM: “As in, housewife ka lang talga???” (she knows that I am a full-time homemaker, yet she still seemed surprised at my answer)

ME: “Yep!” *grin*

MOM: (in a seemingly puzzled tone) “So you cook everyday??”

ME: “Not really everyday. When I cook, I take a lot of time in the kitchen so I choose to cook on some days only or especially when there’s an occasion or when we’re having guests over.”

MOM: (even more puzzled this time) “Ha?? So that’s it?? The WHOLE day you’re just at home??? What do you do?? As in, with the kids lang the WHOLE day???”

…….and then I shall stop here. (I gave her an answer, but let me stop my story here.)

I must warn you that some of what will follow this sentence might be inappropriate or not what should have entered my mind but I choose to be honest with you. Here were the thoughts that ran through my mind at that time: (Don’t worry, they didn’t linger in my mind long enough for me to be affected )

“Lang? …my husband never added that word in reference to what I do around the house.”

“She’s a mom, too….seriously? Does she really not understand how it is to stay home with the kids and manage a household?”

“Gosh…now that you put it that way, it does sound like my days are so unfruitful.”

“Note: I have to ask Dennis again about this, about how he really feels about me not working and being a stay-at-home mom.”

——-—and then I took my thoughts captive (see? I told you not to worry!)——-

I realized that there really will be people who will see what we stay-at-home moms do as a “waste” (for lack of a better word) of talent, brains, and skill (now, there’s a consolation: at least they all have the presumption that we are talented, smart, and skillful! ). The  tricky thing about motherhood is, unlike a career or a job where you get paid for what you do and you see immediate tangible rewards for your efforts at the end of a day’s work, we don’t get that kind of satisfaction even if we wanted to. In any job– you work, you have an output, you get paid. You do an exceptional job, you get a promotion. All the time and energy you put into your work become evident almost all the time, often right away.

On the other hand, moms do a lot of overtime work, but don’t get paid. The immediate tangible products of our day’s efforts  are usually in the form of arts and crafts and messy rooms. The rewards we get are in the form of smiles, hugs, and kisses (this I don’t get as often since my four-year old doesn’t like the thought of saliva transference). If we do an exceptional job, we get the satisfaction of knowing we gave it our best. The product of all the time and energy we put into our work sometimes become evident, but too often we have to wait.

….and we wait years….until we see our children grow up. We wait years before we see the real fruit of all our efforts, years before all the hard work pay off. But we have this promise that as we train up our children in the way they should go, in the end they will not depart from it (Proverbs 22:6).

Motherhood is an investment with high risks. That’s because the stakes are high– we are dealing with lives.

But it is also one with the highest returns and the greatest rewards.