So January is a wonderful month for my family! As posted in the previous blog post, January 13th is my Spiritual birthday. It is also my physical birthday (January 22) AND my oldest daughter’s birthday (January 18). Yep, we’re birthday buddies! I am a sentimental person so I always take time to reflect over that day and events that happened the day I gave birth to her. I don’t know…it kinda helps me to stay grateful for the opportunity to be a mother. Well, this year as I was reflecting and thanking God for my Farrah’s life, I couldn’t help but to think of the lessons I have learned the six short years I’ve been a mother. In honor of my Toots turning 6, I am going to share 6 lessons so here goes:

1. Become comfortable with the uncomfortable!

   This could really be the end of the post…mic drop and goodnight! I would have to say that I have never felt more out of control as I do being a parent. There’s SO MUCH that Melvin & I have no control over and that was extremely frightening at first. To be honest, it still scares me BUT I have learned to become more comfortable with the uncomfortable or what I like to call it…the unknown! You can be just trucking along and one day you wake up and your kid has a horrible fever…You get a call from your child’s school saying they fell from the monkey bars on the playground...Your child comes home crying telling you their best friend is mad at them….the list can go on & on! And as they getting older, the problems become more complex. It’s enough to make you go mad!!! Well, I am no stranger to anxiety and my kids are one of my pressure points so here’s one of the MANY scriptures I cling to:

   “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Philipians 4:6-7 NIV

2. Be confident in how you parent.

   So early on as a mother, I second-guessed myself a lot. Really, I still do but I’m growing. To me, it’s the thought that I want my kids to be healthy, safe, and happy so I am always striving to achieve this but really, I don’t want to screw them up…honest! Another thing that I think most of us have a habit of doing is comparing ourselves to others. It’s a nasty habit! The scripture Proverbs 22:6 AMPC says, “Train up a child in the way he should go [and in keeping with his individual gift or bent], and when he is old he will not depart from it. Now this is talking about the child but I also relate this to myself as well (I am a child of God, right lol?!) God made us with different talents and attributes. I can only be the mother that God made me to be. My child NEEDS me to mother the way God would have me to specifically for them. Now this doesn’t mean that I can’t gain perspective and advice from others, actually the Bible talks about having many advisors (Proverbs 15:22) but by no means am I suppose to become someone else’s duplicate. I CAN ONLY BE ME AND YOU CAN ONLY BE YOU!

3. Kids only want love!

   “Above all things have intense and unfailing love for one another, for love covers a multitude of sins [forgives and disregards the offenses of others].” 1 Peter 4:8 AMPC

   As parents, we have sooo many plans for our kids and for me, I can get so wrapped up in the details of those plans. Some times life wrecks those plans and I can get all bent out of shape. Here’s a secret that I have discovered though…our kids don’t care! All they want is love, attention, and for us to be present with them. The lavish birthdays and vacations, the laundry list of extracurricular activities, the best school systems…all of that is cool but we have to remember that our kids belong to God FIRST!!! He got them…they are good!

4. Parenthood helps you understand God’s love more!

   Man, boy do I understand God’s love for us better. God being the PERFECT father, gives us a glimpse into his love for us! As a parent, your children can push to anger like none other but warm your heart like none other. Fierce protection for kiddos…man I’ll go to the end of the earth to protect them! There is nothing that I won’t do for them…I can honestly say that! By being a parent, I have endured things that have made me feel uncomfortable, pushed through sickness, etc. all because of my kids. I didn’t know self-sacrifice until I became a mother! Shucks, just birthing those knuckleheads was self-sacrificing LOL!

5. Seeing the world through a child’s eyes is AWESOME!

   Nothing is more pure than a child. One of the most enjoyable things about having kids is seeing them discover the world. That initial, exciting discovery is truly unmatched! I think for me, it reminds me that joy is in the simple things. I remember taking walks with Farrah when she was a little tot and how she would get so excited about seeing a butterfly fluttering or a duck at the pond…to her, she was seeing things that she had only seen in picture books. They were coming to life for her. I use to just watch her as she marveled at God’s creation and think, ‘It is wonderful, isn’t it?!’ But we as adults can forget it. We can forget about the gorgeous rainbows in the sky, the daily sunsets, the majestic landscapes all around us. Kids remind us of the MIGHTINESS of God!

6. I GREW UP!

   Man oh man!!! I was so selfish before kids! I can’t believe my hunny bunny could even stand me! Everything about my life was about KIM! What I wanted to do, where I wanted to go! Just selfish! Oh but that changed with motherhood! I see my growth because I can’t even count the times that I have had to push through things I didn’t want to do or places I didn’t want to go or wake up when I wanted to sleep in…all because of my girls. And get this…a lot of the times I LIKE IT!

Anywho, that’s all I got! I hope you guys enjoyed my 6 lessons I’ve learned from being a parent and could relate to them! What lessons have you picked up from being a parent? I would love to hear them!