Pull out the “magical”
list. Because I’m pretty sure summer is
supposed to be magical, and a mom is supposed to make it happen somehow.
The only problem is, I
didn’t get a fair sprinkling of whatever enchanting dust “all the other moms” got.
At the end of every summer
I feel like a failure.
Summer came to a close a few
years ago, and I knew I hadn’t checked off the make-it-magical list. So in anxiety I said, Okay kids, I don’t have any work today, so
what do you want to do? Anything you
want to do we’ll do. (A brave offer
from a mom who hates to be wet or hot or athletic or idle.)
I was working up the
internal motivation to take them hiking or to the lake or something on that
last beautiful day of summer. And my
daughter said, Let’s do a craft.
We spent the sunshiny day indoors
with canvas and paints. That was a good
day.
Anyway, here I am again at
the end of summer knowing how much I have lacked the ability to make fun happen.
This morning I ask myself,
Who
makes the list?
·
Who decides what
makes a rockin’ mom or a boring one?
·
Who decides, at
the end of summer, whether a mom has been successful or has failed?
·
Who decides if a
mom has done what it takes to feel good about how she has cared for her
family?
If I get to the end of the
day and my kids have had clean underwear, a healthy dinner, and a hug –but they
were bored –do I take a red pen to THE LIST and write a big, red F across the
top?
The lists in the Bible
look way different than mine: “But the
fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control.”
(Galatians 5:22-23 NIV)
Maybe, after 18 years of
parenting, I need to crumple up and throw away the superhero mom standard and
strive for something different.
Do you have posted in your
mind some impossible “amazing mom of the entire universe” list?
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