Mommy Marathon

You’ve washed the dishes, folded the clothes, and changed the baby at least 29 times.

You’ve cooked breakfast, made lunches, and found junior’s lost shoe.

Grab your backbag. Grab your lunch. Car line one and car line two.

Rush hour traffic, rush hour traffic. Gotta get to work, please move.

Then there’s ball practice, piano lessons, and don’t forget ballet.

But first there’s homework and backpacks and … “Hey, mom, what’s for dinner?”

Welcome to the Mama Marathon – the to do list that seems to grow longer and longer everday while you grow more and more exhausted. As your frustration ramps up, your energy level bottoms out.

So what do you do when you get that call from the personnel committee at church asking if you can… if you will… just pray about it, please. The word “desperate” might even have been bantered about.

And you begin to think… Who me? Why me? How could I? Well, someone has to do it, and we are all called to serve. Right? Before you know it, you’re trying to figure out how you can fit one more thing into your schedule.

Just like moms, Nehemiah had many different roles during his lifetime. He was the king’s cupbearer before he was called to lead the Israelites in rebuilding the wall around Jerusalem. He organized his crew by dividing the wall into sections and assigning two men to each section. While one worked, the other slept. One day Nehemiah received a message from neighboring kings wanting to meet with him. Sounds simple enough on the surface; however, Nehemiah refused to be called down off the wall and away from the work God had called him to do.

Just because someone asks you to fill a need and serve at the church – no matter how worthwhile – doesn’t mean YOU are called to fill it. God is not a God of confusion, and if we are so busy doing a long list of “good” things, we won’t be effective in doing any of them. In fact, we might have a good argument that believing I am the best person to do EVERY job is a bit prideful and robs someone else of a blessing for serving.

Likewise, just because you are asked to serve, doesn’t mean it is appropriate for your current circumstances. The responsibilities Nehemiah had as a cupbearer were different from the ones he had when he was overseeing the reconstruction of the wall. In the same way, the responsibilites we have as young mothers will not be the same as the empty nester.

I am not insinuating we shouldn’t serve in the church. I am saying the next time we are approached with an opportunity to serve, we need to pray about it first. Ask for discernment to know if this is your section of the wall for this time in your life. It is ok to say “no” if God doesn’t say “yes”.