These Are the Days

These days are hard.

They are the days that push you to your limit and make you wonder if you have done anything right. These are the days of motherhood that are not Instagram worthy. They are survival, scattered. Normally I am well put together, I can keep my house clean, make dinner and have a good day with my kid. Some days though… they are rough. There is vomit and tantrums and little hands that hit. Where did you get this from? I wonder as I once again reiterate a “no hitting” rule. This job is exhausting, but I know it will be worth it. These are the days that you would see I do not have it all together and that life usually isn’t a pretty picture.

That’s the truth of it; motherhood usually isn’t pretty. I think our world of social media has skewed what it looks like. You see all these moms who are put together, have five kids and are making money from posting their incredibly cute outfits online. As much as I love to follow these influencers, I find myself trying to measure up to an unrealistic expectation. The kids that I see online aren’t all there is to it, they may be smiling for the photo, but I am pretty sure that their mom had to tell them “No” on multiple occasions that day too.

The days are hard, but we must remember that they are worth it and nothing worth having comes easy. I hope my hardest days of motherhood are remaking my womanhood. That in a world where we are now thrown into a label of “birthing people” that it is my womanhood that is God-given that stands out; that the Instagram-like life is just an illusion and that I raise my child to be able to persevere through the hard days. Because most of life is defined not by our best days, but the hard ones. The ones where we question ourselves and come to our limits. I want to come to the realization that some days I didn’t do my best, but there is grace for that. On the days I feel like I have it all together will be all the sweeter because of the way I lived through the days that I didn’t.

The days are hard, but Mama you were made for these days. You were placed in this time and generation for a reason. Every nose wipe, tear dried, and lesson taught has a purpose because we are the ones raising the next generation to face the hard days and those hard days are right in front of us. So don’t lose heart Mama, the hard days are here. We are in the thick of motherhood; maybe the best days are in just that-the thick of it- because that is where our character is built and that is where we are helping to build our children’s as well. So, hold on, the hard days come and go and how we hold fast through them is what we will remember the most.