my life for yours

I found this today... looking for a short devotional to share at a baby shower I'm throwing on Saturday, I found my own words written for my SIL several years ago when she was having her first baby. It's a strange feeling to be convicted by my own words, but a reminder I needed. In light of mother's day, I will share it here.

New Mother's Tool Kit

Hershey's Kisses -- for you and the baby, you both deserve them

Marbles - to replace the ones you will loose.

Rubber band - to remind you that flexibility is the key

Lifesavers - to save you from “one of those days”

Toothpick - to pick out the good in all situations

Eraser - to remind you that every new Mom makes mistakes

Starburst - for energy.

Puzzle piece- so you remember that you are an important part of your child’s big picture

Penny - for your thoughts

Candle- for when you are burning one at both ends

Cotton ball- for the times you can't hear yourself think

Rope- in case you get to the end of yours

Asprin- for when all else fails--take two

Peppermint- because you are worth a mint as a new mom

When I first began to think through what I wanted to say to you this morning, my intention was to make a list of “tools” (fitting with the survival tools list I just shared!). It was going to be a bulleted list of helpful mothering tips and things that I have found valuable along the way. As I jotted them down, the list grew and grew and I realized that I would never have time to go through that lengthy list. And so instead, limited to a few minutes of your time today, I will give you only one tool, one suggestion, one tip—actually one phrase that completely encompasses what our priority is in this role of motherhood that you are walking into.

Are you ready? Here it is: MY LIFE FOR YOURS. MY LIFE FOR YOURS.

Remembering this phrase will be the most valuable tool that you possess as you venture into motherhood. How?, you ask, well, let me explain:

Christ, in the ultimate sacrifice demonstrated for us what this phrase means. When Christ died for us, willingly giving his life for ours, he personified a sacrificed life. In response to that as Christians we know that we are to present our lives and bodies as a living sacrifice to God-- my life for yours. This applies to every relationship we have: our marriages, our friendships, our family relationships-- self-sacrifice that models the gospel message honors God and brings about a harvest of kindness and mercy and blessing. But I think this phrase applies best to the relationship we have with our children. God has given us a helpless, unshaped little baby and charged us with raising a warrior to battle for His Kingdom. How does this child change from an unshaped piece of clay into this great spiritual warrior? --- it is a mother’s constant self-sacrifice that molds and shapes and builds and directs that child.

When you rock your baby for 3 hours straight in the night instead of relaxing in your comfortable bed, you are living my life for yours. When you make breakfast for everyone else before you have a chance to start the coffee pot, you are living my life for yours. When you read Mother Goose rhymes for the 12^th time rather than the newspaper, you are living, my life for yours. When you spend weeks on end potty training, when you pick up those toys AGAIN and when you hold a heavy two-year old with an ear infection all day long, you are living my life for yours. And when your days are spent cleaning bathrooms, making lunches and cooking meals and finally getting out of the house, only to attend library story time, you are living my life for yours.

It is the multiple, daily sacrifices that are the key to great mothering. So here is your last survival kit tool (A magnet that reads “my life for yours”). Keep in a prominent place in your home and remember that every sacrifice you make is showing your child the gospel and ultimately shaping them into the Christian men and women that God has called them to be!

(btw we have had some real tragedy in my husbands extended family, pray for them and forgive me if I am absent here on this blog!)