Sometimes You'll Burn the Bagels

By -

Motherhood is one of those things that has the power to make you feel on top of the world or like you are barely hanging on! One day you are teaching them to read . . . and the next they have no matching socks! Sometimes you turn the kitchen table into the coolest cookie cutout station or crafting workshop . . . other days there are still breakfast dishes sitting there when it's time for dinner. Cereal anyone? 


Why am I writing all this? Because it is important to show grace - to others and to yourself. So many times there is competition among women. This shows up in two ways. We measure our greatness against our sister's weakness, which makes us feel better about ourselves, and we fail to be compassionate. Or we look longingly at that mama who has it all together, and we chide ourselves and criticize our efforts as "not enough." Neither of these is love. The truth is, comparison steals joy . . . and friendship. 


If we are honest with ourselves, none of us could say that we have everything together. We each make different choices, and we are each handed a different set of circumstances. I have been challenged recently to be confident in the choices I am making, to not apologize for them as long as they are not sinful . . . and to embrace the joy and even the mess that comes with the choices I make. 


When we are able to be content and confident to be who God made us, we are less likely to judge others or ourselves with a harsh standard. We can be truly happy for that mama who just redid her kitchen cabinets all by herself with her pink power tools. And understand that last week she may have spent the day feeling discouraged by her laundry, just like you. Most importantly, we will be able to be authentic with others and enjoy the deep relationships that God intended for us to enjoy with each other. We will recognize that for each person there are amazing accomplishments and there are difficult days. 

   

Maybe sometimes you will complete your to-do list and end the day with a clean house and happy children. Be joyful in that! Maybe sometimes you'll burn the bagels...and that's ok too.
Danielle Dare enjoys walking alongside her husband in life and ministry. Her primary occupation is in caring for her three children, which she considers a joy and privilege! In addition, she finds her passion advocating for women and children in desperate situations through Trades of Hope, a missional fairtrade business. Her hobbies include exploring outdoors, floral arranging, and reading when time allows.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Dare Family Update: Fall 2021

By -
Image
“The heart of man plans his way, but the LORD establishes his steps.” (Proverbs 16:9). When we first entered the journey to join Source of Light and begin raising support, we had certain ideas of how the process may or may not unfold. As we all know, life does not normally go as we anticipate. We find ourselves continually pivoting in the timing and details, though continuing in the general direction and path the Lord provided. While the enduring impact of the pandemic has made it difficult to follow our original plan of consistently visiting churches to raise support, the generosity and advance giving of our faithful partners has created a surplus in our ministry account. This, coupled with a change of ownership at my current job and the active housing market, has compelled us, as a firm step of faith, to pursue a move to GA and the campus at SLM headquarters. Will you pray for God's hand in this? As we daily follow the Lord’s leading, we trust that He will provide additional regu
Read more

Imperfecto

By -
Image
Since moving to work full-time at Source of Light headquarters, a significant part of my initial training in the Publications Department included working with the various machines used in the printing process, not only to become comfortable operating them but also to learn basic troubleshooting for occasional issues or needed corrections. Part of this was to “catch” repeatedly for our big King press. Notice I did not say “use” or “run” the press - it would take months of focused training or even a lifelong career as a pressman to become proficient at that. Rather, catching in this case involves simply taking booklets off the line, making sure they are stacked straight (called “jogging” in the industry - notice how well I’ve done picking up terminology), and placing them neatly into a bin (or “cage”) to be processed further in future. I found this to be more taxing than I expected, not necessarily the physical aspect needed to perform the task but rather the mental focus to remember the
Read more