I had a tear-streaked conversation with a friend after prayer service last night. We have a lot in common.
We’re wives.
We’re moms.
We’re desperately in love with our families.
We’re trying really, really hard to be the best wives and moms and Christian women we can be.
We’re exhausted.
Someone told me the other day that I look “old and tired.”
Ouch, right?
I hope they meant older and tireder than normal. Not just “old and tired.” But still! I certainly don’t feel more rested after tossing and turning all night thinking about whether or not I need a chemical peel and how much we can swing for a new line item in our budget for beauty “necessities.”
But I should know better than that! People should see your heart when they see you, not your eye shadow or your lip color. My momma taught me that. There was no one that knew her that didn’t think of my mom as a beautiful woman.
No one.
And she rarely, if ever, wore make up. She never used a hair dryer or hair spray. She never wore anything you would see in a magazine or on TV (and she never worn anything she paid full price for!) and I don’t know that she ever colored her hair or even got it cut and styled at a salon. (Although, that’s a little misleading because we have some salon skills in the family that we’ve always totally taken advantage of!)
Beauty is not in the eye of the beholder. Beauty is in the heart of the wearer.
Mr. Fix-It told me that I don’t look old and tired, but that I am tired. I work. I mother. I work. I mother. I clean. I mother. I craft. I mother. I work…I deserve to be tired. But as I tossed and turned last night, I realized that’s not a tired that you can cover with make up. It’s not a tired that you can fix with sleep or a weekend at the spa.
Last night as my friend and I spoke, I saw her heart and it was tired.
I think she shared with me because I’ve shared to her before that I’ve been heart-tired before too. Weary. Overwhelmed. On the cusp of…
Defeat.
If you’re feeling this way, I’ve got to tell you, it’s usually not a circumstance issue–it’s a heart issue. Our “busyness” rarely lets up. It might change shape once in a while, but it rarely ever lessens. Even when my priorities get out of whack and I change things up, I’m still busy. Just with different stuff.
This morning I replaced the words “old and tired” in my mind with Galatians 6:9. “And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.” A truer Scripture on motherhood there never was!
I filled my heart with Christ’s words in Matthew 11:28. “Come to me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”
I overcame defeat with 1 John 5:4. “For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.”
And I returned to my old stand by, Joshua 1:9. “Be strong and of good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord they God is with thee withersoever thou goest.”
I hope you have a bright-hearted Thursday!
