Mending Your Mom Heart After a Child’s Milestone Moment – Even Though Life will Never be the Same
Updated: Jan 22, 2020
Today is another Monday in the life of me, aka “Mom.” Every Monday brings the typical responsibilities no matter what the weekend held, even if the weekend captured the moments of a child’s step off of my path, onto his own.
(NOTE: If you don't have time for this entire post, at least skip to the end to read my mama prayer for this milestone moment when my heart says, "farewell," to the way things were).
This past weekend we graduated our fifth child from our homeschool. While the house calls out for the cleaning up of the remains of the festivities from the fellowship of the weekend, I’ve opted to take a moment for reflection and replenishing – the kind of heart-healing that can only be given by my Heavenly Father. I am choosing a quiet time with Him before I jump back into the tyranny of the urgent and the pressures of the fast-paced family life that will never quite be the same again.
Being the mother of seven, with ages ranging from 25 to nine, there are many milestones that my heart has endured. Over the last ten years I have given birth to my last child, said an earthly “farewell” to my dear friend, endured silent heartaches, graduated five children from high school, married off two daughters and one son, moved to a new state away from three of our grown children to pursue God’s new adventures for us, and welcomed two grandsons into the world.
My mind and body have learned to carry on through the heart pains and parent pride moments, but I have found that I must take time to allow my Heavenly Counselor to mend my heart in the aftermath of each milestone.
With the first few large life events, I hated the day after, when the house fell silent from the celebrations of the weekend before, as the reality of a changed-forever life brought mourning for what was. That’s not how I view “the day after” anymore.
On THIS day after, I’m exhausted and the house is a wreck; the to do list is bulging from the responsibilities that had to be put on hold while I focused on bringing the milestone to fruition (none of these big events happen without great effort, as you know). My emotions are crying out in a panic, “God, how can I possibly enjoy life without my dear child by my side?!”
But my soul, oh my soul, after all these years, has finally learned that there are ways that my Heavenly Father speaks to my aching parent-heart in a unique and precious way reserved only for the day after.
In this significant moment…
Our abundantly loving God fills my soul in ways that only HE can because He created my soul for such divine communion as this – a time when my tenderized-by-the-milestone soul is able to plead more purely and listen more desperately than I am able to on normal days.
In this significant moment He reminds me today, as He does every “day after” that my heartaches are actually growing pains!