Super Mom and why I'm not her

I'm learning that who I am as a "mom" TODAY matters and counts. It's easy to think that once life gets less busy or stressful that I can start being the "mom" I want to be. But reality is that my kids see no defining seasons in their childhood when it comes to their impressions of me as a mother. I don't get to edit their memories of me once they are done growing up.

I know women and know of women in history that I think of as "super-moms". They seem to have it all together....and accomplish amazing things. In the most difficult of circumstances they seem to shine their very best character and focus on the most important things. I'll use a fictitious character as an example....Mrs. Ingalls from Little House on the Prairie. She was a super-mom. Always having the right words, the perfect words, unmatchable strength and faith. It didn't matter how bad things got, she shined and pressed on...always making the best of bad situations....impossible situations. It's easy to compare or be jealous of these kind of women (even if it's really just our perception of them)....their strength, their calm, or their ability to do 50 things at once.

I want to be super-mom. I really do. But day after day I fail to be her. Reality is that I can not compare myself to super-moms or Mrs. Ingalls for that matter. All I can do is my best. The measure and test isn't who I can "out-do" as a mother or wife. What matters is whether or not I do these three things.

Am I growing?
Am I striving?
Am I changing?

Those are the questions that I have to ask myself. Not "am I super-mom today?"

I often think of the stories I've read about real women in history who created great memories out of bad situations. Moms during the great depression who made a pot of soup out of one pea. Moms who made up a game to help make bad times pass. Moms who made their kids think it was for fun to glean fields for food. My grandmother who had ten children to care for and yet when one of them was sick, she would take the time to cut out a paper doll chain just to make them smile.

It's how I handle the tough times that will reflect the kind of mother I am. It's been a piece of cake in the past to create fun memories with my kids when things were going well and easy. It's in the trying times that I have to work hard at putting on a smile, being an encourager, and a comforter to them.

Children look to their parents during difficult times to know how to react or respond to something. I have a choice to convince them that God is in control or to convince them that we all need to panic. I have a choice to make fun memories in the midst of trials or to wallow in self pity. Whatever I choose, they will choose. They will mimic my reactions to life's trials.

I may not be super-mom, but with God's strength, I hope I can keep a smile on even when I fall short.