Mama’s mood can make it or break it for everybody.
I could wrap the post there, really. Those words pretty much sum it up.
But the seriousness of this fact…
the millions of times mamas have squashed joy or wreaked havoc….
the scary ability mothers have….to heavily effect a moment, a day, a life – this deems some diving in today.
The power we ladies posses – is terrifying.
I’ve been thinking about this constantly.
Because a Mama whose emotions fling and flit? She has children who suffer.
She has children who hear her say she is saved by Christ…but who never see the steadiness of heart that should bring.
She has children who hear of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit….but who rarely see evidence of it.
This.is.devastating.
Because we have to get…that we are not only women…..we are witnesses.
Last week ….I came across a startling Spurgeon quote that taps into this very issue:
“I have heard of an atheist who said he could get over every argument except the example of his godly mother: he could never answer that.”
This…..
It cut me to my core.
To my flinging and flitting core.
Friends, I can go from faith to faithless in seconds. I can nose dive from the mountain top to the valley in a matter of minutes. I lash and twist and snarl – with looks and glances and words and tones…. none of it justified. None of it.
Just this morning – the middle child misplaced my goggles.
My goggles.
Not heirloom jewelry. Not cash. Not some delicate paper or some special gift….but swimming goggles. From Target. That were a mere $15.
When I discovered the loss – I lost it.
I fumed and words flew and a five year old heart suffered.
In the midst of my frenzy – she came up to me with sorrowed look and handed me an envelope. When I opened it – it had a drawing inside.
But tucked into the bottom….
was a nickel and some pennies.
Her money. For Mama. To purchase new water eyeballs.
It left me gaping.
And that’s just today. I could tell you of countless eruptions.
Countless.
Now hear me here. I’m not saying we should never feel, or grow angry, or show emotion. I’m not saying that we shouldn’t be human.
But I am saying that we should harness more of the power that lives inside of us….that is Holy.
Philippians says that it is God who works in us, both to will and to work for his good pleasure….that what He works in, we should work and walk out.
It’s Him who enables us to choose the righteous route.
It takes a yielding, and a discipline, and a training on our part. Yes mam. But the supernatural ability to respond and handle in a holy and godly way for the long haul.… it’s all Him.
I didn’t twaddle all of this out here – to make any of us feel guilty or condemned.
But to feel awakened and convicted.
To feel the reality – that our every word and gesture and glance…either rings in light or it rings in darkness….
….for the wee ones (and not so wee ones) we women witness to.
God help us.
