Just Mom

As I passed by the young lady, she flashed me a smile and said, "You're Super Mom!"

I'm guessing that she was watching me during our church service, and she saw me try to sing while holding a squirmy eleven-month-old, then deal with my three-year-old and five-year-old both wanting to sit in the same seat, then leave with the squirmy eleven-month-old, then return, only to leave again with the squirmy eleven-month-old, with the three-year-old in tow.

I wasn't trying to be a spectacle. I was just being Mom.

When people call me "Super Mom", I give God the credit. I thank Him for giving me the gift of efficiency. I thank Him for teaching me contentment. And I thank Him for my health and strength. All these things help me in my task of raising my six kids, but they don't make me super. Like everyone, I have my deficiencies too (like cleaning). And though other moms may not be as efficient, or as content, or as healthy as I am, they have talents and qualities that I do not have, and whether they have one, two, or twenty kids, they are devoted to loving their children daily. We do what we can, each within our own limits.

Motherhood is all on-the-job training, full of ups and downs, triumphs and failures, joys and tears. It's hard enough without people (or ourselves) setting unrealistic expectations. Really, every mom is, in her own way, a Super Mom. And at the end of a particularly good day, I am not thinking about how super I was; rather, I am thinking about the fun day we had at the beach, or the moment my child caught on to reading, or the tender time of reconciliation after a temper tantrum. And if it hadn't been a good day, I am thinking of the new day, with its many chances to try again, and the many opportunities for me to learn how to be a better mom to my kids. 

Because that's who I am– Mom. And that's all I need to be.