My Dad calls me Supermom and I love it when he does.
I see my dad about every two months, but talk to him more often than that. And it seems like every time we connect - whether in person or over the phone - he ends with a “Proud of you, Rae.”
My dad has loved me through my highs and lows and has probably been the most outspoken, encouraging person in my life. Always believing I could do what God has called me to do. Always knowing that I could and would rise above whatever opposition that stood in my way.
And so, when he calls me Supermom, I blush on the inside. In fact, I feel like I could go another two whole months on that one affirmation alone.
The thing is…I don’t always feel so “super.” In fact, I sometimes feel that I’m just average. Or slightly below.
Or maybe not even on the scale at all.
And that’s an easy thing to feel in the world we live in. Especially when the women that we look up to and admire - like the Joanna Gaineses and Lysa TerKeursts - are constantly kicking butt and taking names.
And don’t worry, I’m fully aware of “The Comparison Trap” and have done my best to stay friends with dear Contentment.
It’s just that I sometimes wrestle with this feeling that I’m missing the mark, dropping the ball, and whatever other analogy I could throw at you. (No ball pun intended.)
And that feeling leaves me with the realization that perhaps I’m not so super after all.
In regards to my children, I ask myself these questions: Am I doing the right things? Am I doing enough things?
What am I missing?
What am I forgetting?
And two weeks ago, my heart was overcome with this feeling of missing something…
It was similar to that feeling you get when you leave to go on a trip and run the mental list of Did we lock the house? Close the garage door? Unplug the iron? Pay our electric bill? while sitting on the airplane.
I couldn’t quite place it, but I was certainly forgetting something - missing something even. And I desperately wanted to know what it was so I could find it once again.
That week I happened to be in an emotional state of feeling completely overwhelmed - even though I had told myself that I wouldn’t get caught up in the whirlwind of this holiday season. But, apparently I didn’t listen to myself as I suddenly felt like I was suffocating underneath the weight of my own perfectly prioritized and beautifully penned To Do List.
There was a sermon to prepare, bathrooms to clean, a blog post to upload, beds to make, bedding to wash, four children to keep healthy and alive, gifts to buy, two meetings to attend, groceries to grab, company to host, school lessons to get done, sweaters to wash and line dry, and so on and so on…
And setting aside The Comparison Trap and my own overwhelmed emotional state, I found myself peering through Time - to get a closer look and a better view - at a certain young mother who must have asked herself those very same questions with an unprecedented anguish in her heart.
Today, society would have called her “knocked up” - living in a time and culture where promiscuity was rather frowned upon.
Lucky for her, she was betrothed to be married so she wouldn’t have to raise her child alone. However, once her betrothed found out about the baby (that wasn’t his), he decided to divorce her quietly. He simply wasn’t buying her story that "The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.” (Luke 1:35)
And if you know the Christmas Story, this mother wasn’t carrying an illegitimate child after all. She was carrying Jesus, “the Son of the Most High.” (Luke 1:32) He was a promise of salvation, and a story of redemption.
And the one God chose for the task??
Well, her name was Mary. And if anyone deserves the praise and recognition of being called Supermom - it was her.
I mean, can you imagine what it would have been like to raise God?? Talk about pressure! And responsibility!
And yet, God chose Mary - albeit young, inexperienced, and yes, a virgin - to bring His Son into the world.
And the thing that I couldn’t quite put my finger on earlier last week (as I sobbed in my Quiet Time with the Lord) the Holy Spirit revealed to me in an Aha! moment:
When things are bigger than ourselves, we need Someone bigger than ourselves.
Yes, we need God! And we need His grace!
I recalled that I had slipped my grip on His grace - and was attempting to Supermom all on my own. When in fact, all I had to do was rest in the promise that His strength through my weakness was exactly enough.
My questions Am I doing the right things? Am I doing enough things? buckled under the weight of His gentle and comforting answer:
“There’s grace for that.”
If the word “mom” was a verb, I’d say that we all Mom pretty well.
However, the deeper I wade into the trenches of Motherhood, I realize that my Momming isn’t always enough. I recognize that I need His Super to kick in! Yes, I desperately need God’s grace - His free, unmerited favor - richly bestowed upon my life. And especially in my mothering!
I love the way the Apostle Paul puts it:
But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.
2 Corinthians 12:9
As I’ve walked out the remainder of this week - I’ve been called to account that every time my Momming ends…His Super begins. And in my weak, overwhelmed, and exhausted moments, I’ve found myself smiling and saying, “There’s grace for that!”
I’ve come to the conclusion that if a young, inexperienced, first-time mother could raise Jesus - the Son of the Most High God - then I can certainly raise the ones that God chose for me! Not because I’m super or amazing. But because my God’s grace is!
And the same grace that perhaps young Mary prayed for on that first Christmas morning - after she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger - is the exact same grace that is accessible to me, and to you!
And not only is it accessible, but attainable!
Yes, there’s grace for that! And I’m praying that you will be first in line to receive it (and also extend it) this holiday season.
It turns out that my dad has seen it all along - recognizing the grace of God on my life. So if he wants to keep calling me Supermom, I won’t be stopping him anytime soon because I love it when he does.