This mother's day will be my 39th birthday! Wow, was it just 10 years ago that I was turning 29 while on vacation in Hawaii and claiming that having a birthday on the islands makes one young forever? Hummm, well that was a fun thought; however, I do feel 10 years OLDER. Time has marched on for sure.
When my mother was 39, I was turning 18 and graduating from High School. Wow, that is another crazy thought! I cannot imagine having an 18 year old right now. (and I am not her oldest child) Hummm, well THAT makes me feel young! My mom had so much responsibility at such a young age and what a wonderful job she did if I do say so myself!
Recently a single friend of mine was joking on facebook about her life lacking "romance". While reflecting on her life and her view, the Lord revealed something special to me about real romance:
"K" is an "older" single that is still trusting God to bring her a husband in HIS time and choosing, but about 5 years ago the Father led her on an amazing journey. Like many Australians in a struggling home economy she moved to the UAE with the hopes of stable work and profits to put monies aside for retirement. She did find that here, but she also saw something that many chose to ignore...the plight of the ground level house worker....specifically Ethiopian women.
Many women come here to escape poverty and harsh conditions in their home countries only to find that they have entered into a different type of impoverished cycle. Suffering abuse at the hands of their employers, often they find themselves pregnant and discarded back onto a plane bound for home again. (or in prison here as it is a crime on the woman's part the be pregnant out of marriage!) Not wanting to place shame on their families and not having a way to care for a child, the infant is then the one discarded in Ethiopia as the mom must return again somewhere in Arabia to find work...it is all about "survival" not "living".
Like our family, my friend first saw the needs of the orphans. Despite being single she took on the challenge of raising a little girl. As the first year passed, she began to realize that she was being called to something bigger. She moved to Ethiopia and is now running a home for orphans, but more than that she is teaching and providing employment for young women to better themselves. Working with the Ethiopian Women's Ministry she hopes to save many women from modern day indentured servitude.
I challenged her on her woes of romance. What could be more "romantic" than the service of motherhood (and/or a life given to God's calling). Romance isn't a Hollywood movie or a Harlequin book (or even a "Christian fiction" romance novel - ouch!). I challenged her thinking because I believe too many of my single friends and moms have a negative view of their calling, and because I believe the Father is challenging me to change my attitude as well.
Yes, I am blessed to be married! Don't read this wrong - Matt Travis - is one of the BEST things about my life. I am honored to be his wife and the mother of HIS children. I love that I have the privilege to walk this journey with him. However, in my duties as a mother I am now challenging myself to see "romance" and the real "joy"...the real "love".
Not that I will be exempt from making mistakes this "go round", but I am truly grateful for the opportunity to be an older mom with infants/toddlers again. I LOVED my time with William and Grace at this age, but I think as a 20 something year old I was still trying so hard to "figure it all out" and "do it right", that I missed the romance I missed LIVING in the moment. It was gone too quickly.
Romance isn't a trip to Hawaii. Being a mom to a toddler doesn't have to be filled with enrichment activities and play dates. Real romance is the day in day out living. It is the unconditional love....the kind that wipes up your child's vomit and still kisses that little one on the mouth because they are shocked and confused at this terrible thing happening to their body...you know where I am going with this. The sacrificial list of moms is long. (and should be as a wife too)
Let's encourage each other as moms this weekend to look at life with our "rose colored glasses" on. It really is okay to be positive and optimistic about the little things. There is romance in turning 39, romance in serving in a 3rd world country, romance in watching the same Barney episode for the 100th time, and the list goes on if we choose to change our perspective.
"As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him. For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust. As for man, his days are like grass; flourishes like a flower of the field; for the wind passes over it, and it is gone, and its place knows it no more. But the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him, and his righteousness to children's children, to those who keep his covenant and remember to do his commandments." Psalm 103:13-18
Now THAT is Romance! True love shown by the Father! AT
