Day #286

I woke up to sounds of cooing...at 4:20 ten minutes before my Alarm goes off and I get ready to head to work.  After feeding Mr. Ephraim...he continued to coo and talk to me as I got ready...Every time I would step out of his sight he would cry...and when I would come back in sight he would coo and talk.  

This day in particular as my second week back at work comes to an end was particularly difficult.  Normally he is asleep when I leave...not cooing or crying...and then I had to walk outside and close the door, and close his sounds of cooing behind me...And then the tears came! 

I have said since day one...going back to work has caused me to rely on God a lot more...And for that I am thankful!  But reading the below message was just what I needed..

Nearly every mother I know wrestles with some form of mom guilt from time to time. Some career-driven moms feel guilty about the limited time they can spend with their kids, about how tired they get trying to do it all, about special moments or school events they miss. Some stay-at-home moms feel a sense of loss, missing a career they stepped away from or wishing they could engage more with their professional skills and passions. One mom envies another for the time she gets to spend caring for her kids; one mom envies another as she sees a friend's career advance while she's at home wiping runny noses. And somewhere in between are the moms with part-time jobs trying to juggle a bit of both professional work and stay-at-home parenting—and often feeling they're dropping balls in both arenas.

Advice abounds for finding "work-life balance" or overcoming mom-guilt—but, as Kathryn Butler points out in this week's featured article, it all inevitably falls short. Not one piece of advice can somehow magically solve this conundrum. In fact, Butler believes that no simple answer exists. Instead, hidden within the wrestling is an invitation: deeper reliance upon God.

In navigating such deep and persistent struggles, Butler asserts, "Scripture teaches us to lean into God rather than into our own capabilities." As we wrestle with difficult questions and ongoing battles with guilt, loss, or envy, we can grow in deepening our reliance upon God. For, she says, "when we acknowledge our own brokenness and lean into his faithfulness, even anxieties that steal our breath can bless us."