Humility, Sacrifice, and Selflessness

Can you think of the most humbling, sacrificial, or selfless moment of your life? I honestly don’t know if I fully understood those words until I became a mama. From the moment of conception — or in some cases before — you give up your wants and desires for the sake of a precious little baby. I remember in the months after our miscarriage, but before we became pregnant again, I would do things in an attempt to make my body as ready to carry a baby as I could. I thought I was making sacrifices then — staying away from certain foods, staying out of hot tubs — just in case I was pregnant and didn’t know it, exercising, planning our months around the possibility of a baby, researching, and on and on. I had no idea all the sacrifice and selflessness that would come once I was carrying our son and the humbling experience of pregnancy and motherhood that was to come in the days, months, and years after he was born.

Pregnancy was very sacrificial for me as my body began to change in ways that I’d only heard about. I was decently sick with our oldest son and I was often reminded about how I was already giving up my comfort for his benefit. All of the aches and pains and seemingly inconvenient parts of pregnancy were preparing me for what was to come. I was up a lot at night to use the bathroom and I can see now how that was preparing me to be up a lot at night with a newborn. The entire time I was pregnant, I was thinking about our son. I made decisions based on what I believed was best for him and that hasn’t changed since the moment he took his first breath. My labor and delivery with him were very painful, but knowing that I was so close to meeting him made it all worth it. I can’t say that I’ve forgotten that pain, but I’d do it again in heartbeat if I had to because he was more than worth it!

Postpartum was the most humbling experience of my life I think. Not only was my body different than it had ever been before, there was pain, there were limitations, there was required and necessary rest, there was recovery and dependence on others for help with simple things. I couldn’t even sit up out of bed on my own for the first few days — that’s not something I was expecting. It was such an emotional time while I endured all the postpartum hormones and while my recovery went well, it still wasn’t a “walk in the park.”

Since our first son was born, we had another son and I’m currently pregnant again. The amount of selflessness that has been required has taught me so much about the love God has for us. When my little ones cry, I respond no matter how exhausted I am because I love them SO much. When we cry, God responds to us because He loves us SO much more than we even know! I’ve had to say “no” to things I’d like to say “yes” to because of what was best for my little ones. I’ve changed diapers — after just changing them — because sometimes little ones just want a clean diaper to make dirty. I could go on and on with examples because that’s what motherhood is. It’s a constant refining of character and attitude. It is a title not to be taken lightly and a calling that requires selflessness, sacrifice, humility, and love. It’s the best and it’s hard.

In church a few weeks ago our pastor talked about re-framing our thoughts. That is something I have to do often in motherhood — especially when I’m exhausted. I get to comfort my babies, feed them, care for them, love them, wake up with them, rock them, hold them, teach them, and so on. It can be hard and even frustrating sometimes when I’m up in the middle of the night multiple times, but if I can remember what a gift it is to have a sweet little one to get up with it completely changes my attitude. I’ve learned so much about God through my journey of motherhood and I know that I’ll continue to learn even more through the coming days and years.

Song of the Week: This week I chose “Boat Song” by JJ Heller because I like it and have often sung it to my little ones. Enjoy!