Consistency in the Service of Motherhood
When I originally had the idea of writing on consistency, I thought that this post would be about consistency in your mothering and discipline techniques. About following through when telling your child to do something. As I started writing, however, I was led in a completely different direction. This is about my struggle with consistency in the service of motherhood.
My mind has been cloudy lately. My body has been weary. I’m nearing the end of my pregnancy and, to be frank, I’m pretty sick of waking up to pee 2-3 times per night and having to maneuver gingerly out of bed so as not to aggravate my pelvic pain. I’m thankful that, for the last couple of weeks, Biscuit has only been up 2-3 times per night and has settled back to sleep quickly.
I want to be a blessing to my husband and children. I know the “to dos” to get there but I’m having a hard time getting motivated. I cannot rely on my own strength, because it so often fails me. I’m consistently inconsistent. Just when I feel like I’m getting into a good rhythm with housework, mothering, my marriage, and business, I drop the ball. What’s a person to do at that point?
Go back to square one.
I want to be a blessing to my husband and children. I know the “to dos” to get there but I’m having a hard time getting motivated. I cannot rely on my own strength, because it so often fails me.
Service. Jesus came to serve and He is the example that we are to follow.
Servanthood is hard.
Especially at this point in my life, I would much rather be served than to serve. I even feel like I’m entitled to being served sometimes. I do a lot of serving and, to tell the truth, I grow weary from it. But nowhere in the Bible does it say that we are to serve with the expectation of being served back. How in the world does a person serve and sacrifice so much of herself, consistently every day, without growing weary?
You can’t. I can’t. I need to find a way to rely on God’s strength instead of my own. Because there are days when I just run out of strength.
Go back to the beginning.
Square one: read my Bible. Keep reading until I allow God’s strength to come into me. He will give me the strength. All I need to do is ask in faith and I shall receive. But I also have to be willing and open to receiving it.
How do I open myself up to His strength? Prayer. God’s strength is found in His Word and made perfect in my weakness. His perfect strength will see me through.
Do you struggle with consistency too? How do you find the strength to consistently serve your family?
love this – thanks so much for sharing!
I needed to read this today. I can relate with growing weary from serving and expecting to be served back. I can also relate with realizing that I can’t do it by my own strength. But we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us! Thank you for this reminder. 🙂
I read this post on a pretty regular basis when I’m feeling worn. It really is amazing what a person is able to do through the strength of Christ and modeling ourselves after His servant heart.
Love the simplicity of all of this…yes back to square 1! Read your Bible and pray. We all have many failures and sometimes life gets weary…but we need to be stedfast in our devotion to our Heavenly Father!
Great post, Tessa! Consistency – therein lies the struggle. I love that you direct us back to God’s Word as square one! Indeed, that’s the beginning of anything worthwhile. <3
Blessings to you! ~ Jenni (I'm visiting from Teach Me Tuesdays at Growing Home)
I once felt overwhelmed by all the different spiritual disciplines and I emailed the author of one of my favorite books to ask him where to start. He told me not to worry about anything else, just to start in God’s Word. And wow, does it ever make a difference!
Thanks for stopping by. I love the Teach Me Tuesdays. There are always so many wonderful posts linked up.
I can relate to how you are feeling. I can relate to your struggle. Square one is a great place to be though. I find that on the days I struggle most I just have to keep pushing and keep loving and serving my family. Eventually I get a break. I get to rest and recharge, but until then I just live in square one 🙂
Thanks for linking up for Babies and Beyond!
Thank you. Such a tough choice when you’re in the moment but a good one to keep loving and serving. God says to come if we are weary and He will give us rest and it’s so true!
So a post I needed to read this week. Seems like many of us may be convicted about this subject this week, I have drafted, but not yet finished a piece on this as well. Glad to know I am not the only mommy struggling in this area!
I noticed as well that there are currently several others posting about consistency. Maybe it’s is the change of seasons that gets us thinking about where we’ve come from and how far we have yet to go.
This is the 2nd post I’ve seen today on consistency – and the 3rd time I’ve dealt with it today. I am also consistently inconsistent on a lot of things. But I’ve got to keep going. Thanks for sharing!