We pour ourselves out— mind, body, and soul. We give nutrients. We give hugs. We let them in. We point them outward. We hurt with and for them. We reason calmly. (We speak sharply.) We encourage. (We discourage.) We play. (We tire.) We smile. (We weep.) We understand one another. (We belabor points until the other feels belittled.) We are patient. (We are clearly impatient.) We spend time making sure they know we love them. (With one stern glance, they question.) We train. (We neglect to train.)

At the end of every day, there is one haunting thought:  In the gamut of all that happens in a day, is what I did to mother, to nurture, to love enough?

My answer is always, “No”. Something is always done or left undone.

The reason is simple yet one I forget as I beat myself up and run myself ragged. I cannot love my children as only God can love them.

In his book Sacred Parenting, Gary Thomas says, “God had called me to focus my efforts on introducing my kids to God, even using my own failures and inadequacies as compelling causes for my children to find their refuge in him.”

For mothers, the bigger question becomes, Is what God has done for me enough? If you and I could believe that it is— He is enough for us— we could believe it for others, particularly for our precious ones, our children.

The hope of all mothers who hope in Jesus is that His life, death, and resurrection and pronouncement of “It is finished” is enough for us.

And it is enough for each one of our children. He is enough for our children.

His perfect love frees us to mother as best we can. The balance will always shift in favor of us pointing them, not to us and our efforts, but to Him and to His.

Christian mothering is not to saying all the right things or doing all the right things, even as much as we would like, but to sing over our children the Good News that Jesus is enough for us all. The Son of Mary is the hope for all sons and daughters.

Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief.