October 19th, 2011

{Day 19} On Not Meeting Everyone’s Needs

“It’s almost like… anything worth doing in this life is almost impossible to do.” ~Jon Foreman, of Switchfood

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{This fabulous guest post is by the very sweet and insightful Nicole of the Gidget Goes Home blog}

I’ve been a wife for eight and a half years now, and mom for four. And yet, just only recently, after becoming a mom of three just over four months ago, did I come to this revelatory conclusion:

As much as I would like to, I can’t meet all the needs of everyone in my family.

Maybe you’ve been there too…

It seems like just when my oldest daughter needs me to help her do a project… my son needs his truck put back together and a book read to him…

And then just when he wakes up from his nap and starts crying in his crib… my baby has just started nursing and my milk has just let down…

And just when I’ve started changing her diaper, my son suddenly is insisting I pick him up with two hands wrapped around my legs and a sweet, “Up, please!” Oh, and Gigi needs to be picked up from preschool–um, now!– and Brody suddenly smells a bit stinky, and now baby Hallee needs to nurse again and oh yeah, my husband’s birthday is in less than a week, and I better “pop dry” that load of clothes sitting in the dryer just one more time, and don’t even get me started on the bathroom floors, and… and…

Whew. I think you get the idea.

Someone in my house always seems to have a need I can’t meet, pretty much from breakfast until bedtime. As the wife and mother, it’s a bit disheartening to be sure.

Can anyone relate?

For me, things are compounded because my younger two are only fourteen months apart. But aside from that fact, the truth is simply that this mothering gig (and trying to meet needs) is hard stuff, because we want to meet their needs. We love them and we want to take care of them. It’s our job for crying out loud.

But we can’t do it all. It’s just not possible.

So I’m learning to prioritize, and asking for grace, and trying to not wish away these crazy days, but instead, to relish in them.

The amazing thing I’m learning as I experience my own inability to do it all though, is God’s amazing ability to indeed do it all. And more.

To meet every need. Every dream. And exceed them all.

In my own humanity, I’m seeing more of His deity. His power. It’s by the power of His grace alone, after all, that I’m able to find joy in the crazy.

When I am weak, He is strong.

And for that, I don’t mind so much that I can’t meet every need.

Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
~Ephesians 3:20-21

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Nicole can be found writing at Gidget Goes Home and Simple Organic. She loves to read, sew, make ice cream, take pictures, surf, watch baseball and go for walks by the beach with her hubby and three little kiddos. She loves anything handmade and is passionate about Creation care.

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  • http://amylsullivan.blogspot.com/ Amy Sullivan

    First time here, and I love the guest post by Nicole…something I’m struggling with now. Letting go of the idea that I need to do everything and be everything. I can’t. I’m not suppossed to.

    Good read.

    • http://www.redandhoney.com Beth

      Amy! Thanks for stopping by, and welcome! So glad this post spoke to you. I know it encouraged me also, and I love the idea of releasing that pressure that we tend to place upon ourselves. Such a freeing concept!

  • http://gidgetgoeshome.com Nicole

    Thanks for reading, and for understanding, Amy! It’s so good to know we’re not alone in this!