Stuck Between the Push and the Pull?

Posted by Tabitha Lewis on May 24th, 2011 in family | 5 Comments

In the world of motherhood life is full of demands: What are we doing…? Can I have this…? Will you do that…? Can they stay…? I need money! The days run together, the months end before they start and the years fly by without our permission. Our vocabulary consists of the can’s, the will’s, the do’s and the do nots. And more often than not we, the mothers, are stuck between the push and the pull! Yes, training our children in the way they should go, is somewhat task oriented. Often we wrestle with our mothering have to’s that leave our mothering want to’s blowing in the wind.

Are you ok with that? I’m NOT! I certainly wrestle with the lack of quality time over the quantity of wasted time! Are we teaching our children to busy themselves so that when life gets tough they won’t have time to deal with their “stuff”? The push of providing for our children can pull us away from equipping them.

I will be the first to say there is NO right or wrong way to maintain balance between the push and the pull; BUT, we NEED balance. Without balance the push of the mundane WILL pull us down and we will forfeit the quality of our time with our children.

Will we always succeed in making EVERY moment flawless? Will our heads fall onto our pillow EVERY night feeling confident we were successful? Will we ALWAYS speak tenderly with grace words and NEVER lose our temper? Will our children become PERFECT adults due to our dedication of maintaining balance? From one mom to another—NO!

Can I encourage you with this… There are NO perfect people among us therefore there are NO perfect mothers! Trying to attain perfection in our gift of motherhood is unattainable. Take a deep breath, let yourself off the hook; your neighbor raises her voice out of frustration, just like we do, and the mom who appears to have it all together, she looks into the same mothering mirror, as we do. God equips us to mother the children He has placed into our arms. He understands our frustrations, He listens to our pleas on our children’s behalf and He wants us to succeed!

Commitment and determination are the keys to WINNING! When we commit to strive for balance and determine that chaos will NOT overtake us, we are geared for combatting the push of the pull.

We CAN do all things through Christ who strengthens us. We CAN commit because He equips us. We CAN be determined because He fulfills us. We CAN combat the push of the pull because He strengthens us.

Start today making that change. Allow yourself time to distinguish what’s pushing you into the quantity and what’s pulling you away from the quality. Allow God to show you how your family will thrive from this change. Sometimes activities need to cease, schedules need to change, laundry needs to sit, dinner menus need to become simple and focus needs to shift.

Commit today to maintain balance and determine that you will NOT settle for being STUCK between the push and the pull!

Power Verses:

“But the helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, He will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.” (John 14:26, ESV)

“Behold, God is my helper; the Lord is the upholder of my life.” (Psalm 54:4, ESV)

“I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.” (Philippians 4:13, ESV)