As mothers we need more than sleep for rest

Today, we join others in the world to celebrate Mother’s Day. It does not matter how you came to get the title mother, what matters is that we have people who are under our care and that a day was set aside for us to be celebrated, so happy Mother’s Day!

Usually on such days, children tend to go out of their way to appreciate and show their love to those who carried and laboured for them to see the light of day. 

Motherhood is all about nurturing life. In my view, it is also a calling that is often filled with love and joy, but it also comes with several responsibilities such as teaching, and disciplining those the creator allows us to steward.

I like Susan Gale’s description; “mothers are like glue. Even when you cannot see them, they are still holding the family together”.

If you ask me in today’s world this is a big task to undertake. It calls for one being on their toes most of the time. Much is often expected of us as mothers and often we tend to prioritise the wellbeing of others to our own detriment.

As a person of faith, I often draw strength to perform my role of a mother from the Bible. I like how Elizabeth George defined a godly mother as one who “loves the Lord with all her heart, soul, mind and strength and then passionately, consistently and unrelentingly teaches her child to do the same”. 

I wish I would say I have lived up to this definition. Instead, I try and fail more times than I want to. I find solace in the words of Sharon Hoffman in her book The Gifted Woman: 12 Secrets for a Life that Impacts Eternity. 

“It seems as though the underlying message of what God is teaching me presently is that I am to be steadfast, resolved, determined, resolute, not to give up, to persevere,” she writes, adding “Hold on, hold out, persevere in serving me come what may: but most importantly, I want you to know me. Keep your eyes on me and on who I am rather than what I can do for you.” 

These words give me the comfort I need, especially on days when my cup is so empty and yet others are waiting upon me to fill their cups. I am learning that for me to effectively carry out this role, I need more than a good night’s sleep. I know for sure that rest transcends the eight or more hours we are advised to sleep each night.

Rest, I am learning, is both a command and a gift only we can give ourselves. We read that our Creator worked hard for six days and took off the seventh day for rest and yet we the creation still believe that we can work through all the seven and still function effectively. I am learning that to be a great steward to those He has placed in my care, I need to take care of me by not only doing less, trying less, and moving less but also buying less and embracing contentment. My definition of contentment being “the ability to recognise and accept that what I have is enough”. 

In today’s world where we can be able to see what other mothers are doing, it is very easy for one to look at what they are doing or not doing through the lens of other mothers. This may not be a bad thing, except that most times as mothers, we are in different seasons of our motherhood journeys. 

Our children are now teenagers, with one soon becoming a young adult. What this means is that the way I perform my role of a mother today is not the same way I did several years ago when I had to make a choice of whether to continue with my corporate career or follow my husband and give our children the gift of them being raised by both their parents. 

This year, as we accept the gifts we will be given, let us also spare time to reflect on how we can create time for rest so that we can better perform this role so that others drink from our over flow.

Ms Rosette Wamambe is a transformational leadership coach with the Maxwell Certified Leadership Team    [email protected]