Children are a good gift we can enjoy, but motherhood isn’t the source of our happiness—it’s a context where we can glorify the One who gives us true joy. 

Motherhood works towards something. We just need to ask: is it toward our ends or God’s?

I don’t need to tell you that motherhood is hard work. It’s physically grueling, emotionally exhausting, and intellectually numbing. But one hardship we often overlook as moms is the challenge it makes to our sense of purpose.

Through the consuming trials of motherhood, we lose many of the earthly ways we used to understand the purpose of our lives before—we may no longer work out of the home, our friendships may change, our relationships with our husbands may differ as we make room for the family, and so on.

Because the challenges of motherhood strip away our old identity markers, we are tempted to replace them by finding our purpose in godly motherhood.

Although godly motherhood is valuable, it is not our purpose. It is not our first calling, but the result of it.

Our purpose is first and foremost to love God more.

Therefore, we don’t wrap our purpose up in our children—or in any other relationship. Roles and relationships don’t define who we are and why we are here. Only one relationship defines us: our relationship with God.

Dear Mommies, we are so much more than the summation of our children. His purpose for your motherhood is that you would know him better, love him more, depend completely on his strength, and understand his faithfulness in a new way.

I think every person has a desire to see results - to feel like something is happening from our efforts, that they're making a difference. We are a culture of instant gratification after all. But when all you're doing most of the day is picking up fuzz, crumbs and toys off the floor, it can be hard to see the value. It feels very ... small. But the truth is, motherhood is not small work. It is a slow process, one that isn't obvious or grand to the world - it takes stamina, patience and vision - but the results are things legacies are made of.