Unlimited Motherhood: Overcome 12 Limits That Overwhelm and Conflict Our HeartsНамуна

Title: Overcoming Mom Guilt

Mom Guilt - /mäm gilt/ noun

•The never-ending emotion of falling short as a mother.

•The feeling that as a mom you’re being selfish for doing anything other than caring for your family.

“I hate you, you jerk!” My five-year-old daughter, Emma, screamed as the nurse prepped the needle. Everyone in the room, including my husband and I, picked our jaws up off the floor. It had been a week since we arrived at Boston Children’s Hospital, and after repeated blood tests and procedures, we all wanted to scream profanities; only my daughter didn’t have a filter.

As parents, it was embarrassing.

As pastors, it was mortifying.

When I wasn’t stressing about the mass in my daughter’s chest, I was laden with guilt as a mom. Where did we go wrong? Maybe we didn’t discipline her enough? Why is she so angry?

The truth is, behind every great kid is a mom who is pretty sure she is screwing it up. But mom guilt originates from thoughts planted in our minds by the Liar himself. And every lie has a root. Guilt’s root: I’m not doing enough. If motherhood was an official job, I would have fired myself years ago.

Whether you’re a working mom who blames herself for the time spent away or a stay-at-home mom who feels guilty for wanting a break, we all experience the overwhelming sense that we aren’t cut out for this job.

Guess what? You’re not.

We all stink at parenting when we start.

But how long are we going to beat ourselves up over a past Jesus erased? Every one of us is in desperate need of God’s grace. Grace is the undeserved favor of God demonstrated by Jesus’ death for all the ways we fall short. We don’t have what it takes to be a good parent. We need buckets of grace to bridge the chasm between our good intentions and our shortcomings.

In traditional Japanese art, liquid gold is used to bind together fragments of broken pottery. Each crack is etched in gold leaf and formed into a new creation—one in which its brokenness and faults are completely apparent—yet stunning. Ask for God’s grace to fill the cracks of your life, and let him mold you into the perfectly imperfect parent he has called you to be.