John Lennon once said, “Life happens when you’re busy making other plans.” It couldn’t be more true for you and me but it took a few college people to open my eyes to one important truth found beneath what Lennon once said and it’s this: Your everyday matters.
Feeling slightly out of place with my 30 something wrinkles, I make my mom to-do list in the corner of a tiny, stale classroom (which really should be an office); dozens of students mingle, getting to know each other as we collectively take a deep breath to gear up for the semester. While everyone is talking about resumes and beer, I’m thinking about folding laundry and what to make for school lunches.
The moment could be like the opening scene of any underdog movie where the character is about to “make it big.” I can’t help but laugh as I listen to all the chatter; it consists of soon-to-be graduates of English, making plans for the big moment. Each revolve around landing the perfect career to enjoy other big moments in life. This big moment is when they know they made it, and life will be a series of big memorable moments after that.
The conversations stay with me as I rush to my car in order to pick up my kids from three different locations within 30 minutes. The rest of the day looks like yesterday and the day before that. Checking homework, making supper, cussing at the laundry pile and dirty dishes in the sink. Little forgetful moments filled with mundane little chores, the day to day existence of me.
I wonder if I make a difference.
Just who reminds her son over and over not to be selfish without irritation spilling over? Does my mom life hold any significance? Will my words and instruction carry memorable weight in the big picture of life? And it’s there in that moment when I’m gently reminded Steve Jobs had a mother. Albert Einstein had a mother and so did Billy Graham.
He reminds me how He created the greatest of miracles scratched onto scrolls where life was mundane, repetitive, and full of hard work but pregnant with life change. It was in the mundane where God taught our fellow saints to see more in the everyday.
Those who left the greatest legacy were everyday people like you and me. He wants us to look more than surface deep because it’s there–trust me–where wisdom, love, and glory are mixed with sweat and tears reminiscent of when our child’s heart is forever changed.
Your Mom Life Matters
What you do each day matters because each moment is built on top of another, all strung together, lined up through years and years which becomes the foundation of a person–someone who will learn how to make a difference with his or her everyday moments, someone who will become the next Steve Jobs, Billy Graham, or stay at home mom.
Never despise the mundane. Embrace it, unwrap each day like a gift. No matter when or how you became a mom–you matter–forget the person who explained away your dreams, gifts, ideas, your stories and your testimony. Whether you’re a working mom or stay at home mom–you matter.
YOU matter because you encourage little people to be their best.
YOU matter because you create the foundation of who your child becomes.
YOU matter because you put your dreams on hold to make their dreams happen while you fold shirts and hand out character building chores.
YOU matter because your intuition tells you when they need someone to listen to their hurts, fears, dreams, and trials.
YOU matter because you hold their entire world in your hands–you show them what life is and isn’t.
YOU matter because because your courage teaches them to be courageous.
YOU matter because your work of keeping a home creates a dwelling place where your children are free to grow and become.
YOU matter because your presence is their harbor, a place where they can anchor themselves in life’s storms.
I think of those college kids planning for big moments when someone should be telling them to prepare for the mundane, to learn how to unwrap each everyday moment. Someone needs to tell them to look to their mother’s and whisper wisdom gaining prayers because real life happens when we’re busy making other plans.
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