Parenting “The Impossible Kid” With Love and GraceSample

Every Mom deserves cheers at the end of the day. 

My daughter was just weeks old, and my mother (who was visiting) and I were frantically trying to figure out what was wrong because she wouldn’t stop crying. 

No matter what we did—hold her, rock her, feed her, change her diaper—we couldn’t calm her down. We decided we better take her temperature; something must be wrong.

Rectal thermometers were the only way to go back then, and we had to hold her down while she screamed. After a long, agonizing three minutes, the thermometer read 102.7. 

We both freaked! As we panicked, one of us screamed, “Call the doctor!” 

With a pounding heart and shaky voice, I explained to our pediatrician’s nurse that there was something terribly wrong with my baby. Just then, my husband calmly strolled in the room with thermometer in hand and asked, “Did either of you remember to shake down the thermometer to zero before you took her temperature?” 

My next words were “I’m sorry, everything is fine.” My brave “knight-in-thermometer-armor” saved the day. 

Would I ever get this mom thing right? 

There were daily reminders of how I was falling short.

I had given myself the title of 

Defeated, 

Underachiever, 

Broken. 

What’s your title? Mom? Working mom? Wife? Are you defined by your career choice? Do you feel labeled by others? How have you chosen to label yourself? Swap it for Human. Lovable. Child of the King of the Universe. Throughout the Bible, I see God saying, No matter what you’ve done or what has happened to you or what label you have or how unruly your children are—you are loved; you have value; you’re okay, and it’s okay to be human. 

The message to ourselves, however, can taunt us that we need to be superhuman moms. Throughout the Bible, God’s message to us declares, It’s okay to be human. 

So what? Embrace God’s love. Embrace your humanness. Love yourself. Love others. 

Dear God, help me to embrace my humanness and fully accept Your love for me. And in turn, give my best to others.