My kids aren't grown-ups...

But, sometimes, I forget that.

I find myself getting frustrated with them because they are struggling with something that I dealt with long ago or because they are immature.  I get weary of having the same or similar conversations over and over and over and over.  I trip over yet another pile of clutter.  I open the laundry chute and a waterfall of toys cascades out.  I look for the new plasticware I just bought to store leftovers and every single piece is in the backyard full of mud.  The towels are "hung" to dry in a big wet mass on the side of the tub.  And on and on and on.

It occurs to me that all of the things in the previous paragraph are exactly why they still need me. 

I read an account once of a mother of 7.  She had just finished the morning routine and got all of them out the door to school and she turned to find her kitchen in disarray and several loads of laundry laying next to her washing machine.  Then, she walked into the bathroom off of the kitchen and encountered a huge mess, including a tub that was badly in need of a scrub.  She got the cleaner and knelt down by the tub and started to cry.  She was totally overwhelmed with the feeling of being in a hamster wheel that all moms experience at one time or another.  She began to pray, "God, I want to do big things for you!  I want to help people!  I want my life to matter!"  Then she sensed a still, small voice in her heart, "These are big things that you are doing.  These children, they are more precious to me than you could ever know, and I trusted them to you.  Who else will do these things for them?  I need you to love them."

Indeed.  Who else will do these things for them?  Who else will love them?

Take heart, fellow Moms.  These things we do and do and do and do and do...they matter.  :)