Kept in Love: Lullabies for the Both of UsSample

Just Be

Discontentment: the dark cloud that casts its shadow over motherhood.

In the first early weeks of becoming a mom, I remember thinking, I should be figuring this out faster. Why am I struggling so much? The newborn days presented a steep learning curve, and I just wanted to skip past them. I wanted to feel like I had arrived. I should be figuring this out faster. Why am I struggling so much? The newborn days presented a steep learning curve, and I just wanted to skip past them. I wanted to feel like I had arrived.

But while the early days of becoming a new mom have since passed for me, this struggle has not resolved itself. I still don’t feel I’ve arrived. Motherhood sets forth a constant stream of new challenges. Every time I feel I’ve “figured it out,” the circumstances change on me, and I have to learn something new yet again. Being a mom appears to be a process of constant growth.

The perfectionist in me wants to arrive. Maybe you can resonate.

It’s hard to struggle.

It’s hard to mess up.

It’s hard to acknowledge our need for help.

And as long as we fight to accept the growth process, we will feel discontent with the present.

I wrote the song “Just Be” with my younger self in mind. I was a perfectionist even as a child. I remember constantly living for the next season, where then, I thought, I could rest. Once I’d finished my to-do list, once I’d resolved some character issues, once I’d completed certain goals. But that season never came. In a way, I rushed through my childhood only to find that one day, I was grown up, and yet, I had still not arrived.

In your experience as a mom, have you felt this discontentment? Are you longing for the next season? Are you impatiently awaiting the day you have it all figured out?

Praise be to God - there is a path to the contentment we long for. Philippians 1:6 says, “And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.”The freeing news of the Gospel is that our journey of growth is not on our own shoulders! It is in God’s hands! God started a good work in us, and he promises to bring it to completion.

You can trust God with the process. You can trust God to provide what you need. You can trust God to work growth in your heart through every season.

As the chorus of “Just Be” sings,

The rain’s gonna fall.

The sun’s gonna shine.

You’re planted in love,

so you’ll grow in time.

Trusting in God’s control releases us from waiting to be content until we have things figured out. We can enjoy the now and be present in the moment, believing God always sees his work through. Each season of Motherhood has its challenges, but let’s not forget that each also has its unique gifts, moments we won’t get back. When we surrender anxiety over the future to God, we can treasure the special blessings of our current season as a mom.

Pray for your heart: Take a moment to pray to God and ask him to give you contentment with where you are in this present season.

Pray for your child: Take a moment to pray for your child’s contentment, that as they grow up, they will learn to rest in God’s care, control, and timing over their own journeys.

Rest: Finally, spend a few quiet moments at rest with God, meditating on his truth:

“And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” -Philippians 1:6