If f I had to name the thing I miss most from my pre-mommy days, I would choose “good sleep”. I miss those days when I could count on a good, solid eight hours. I also fondly recall those long-ago times when I could stay up late, knowing that I’d be able to sleep in the next day.
Sleeping in doesn’t happen very often anymore. When I go to bed late, that just means I lose sleep that night. That’s because my body isn’t that one that determines when I wake up. Often, someone else’s little body decides when mine should be awake.
The other day, I was awakened by a little hand patting my shoulder. I opened my eyes and saw Jessica’s sleepy face mere inches from my own. “I want to get in Mommy’s bed,” she said.
I knew that if I let Jessica into my bed, any chance of getting further sleep was gone, because she likes to lie right up next to me with her head against my face. She tries to lie quietly, but when she lies that close, I feel every little squiggle (and the big squiggles, too). On the other hand, if I told her to go back to bed, she’d start wailing, and I wouldn’t get any more sleep that way, either.
So I pulled her up into bed with me. She snuggled against me, and I covered us both up. As I lay there, relishing the sweetness of having her little body curled up next to mine, I confess that I also felt a little bit crabby. I love Jessica, and I love cuddling with her, but couldn’t we have cuddled later? I was tired. I wanted to sleep.
If I had been able to sleep in that morning, I would have missed a gift from God. I would have lost precious time with my daughter, and I wouldn’t have heard God saying to my spirit, “Look how secure and relaxed she is with you. Don’t you love it that you can do that for her?”
As I thought more about the gifts God gives me through my children, I realized that I’ve probably been missing a lot of them. I’ve been hearing the requests for attention and missing the greater gift that comes with them.
When my son asks me to play trains with him, God is offering me the gift of knowing that someone wants to be with me just because he loves me.
When my daughter asks me to read to her, I receive the gift of getting to pause and take a moment out of my day to do a favorite activity.
When one of my children says, “Mommy, you look really nice today,” I get to know that someone thinks I’m beautiful.
On a regular basis, God offers all of us mommies the gifts that matter most to us, and He allows our precious children to be His means of delivering those gifts. The requests our children make of us are not just duties to be performed or annoyances to be gotten over. They are God’s way of meeting the deepest needs every mom has. The next time one of our children asks us for something, let’s see beyond the request. Let’s hear not only what our child is asking, but what God wants us to know.
You’re needed. You’re loved. You’re special. You’re a hero.
Philippians 4:19—And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.