Family Alive

Mother of the Year

 Micca Monda Campbell

 “Her children
arise and call her blessed; her husbandalso, and he praises her.”   Proverbs 31:28
(NIV)

I long to be a godly wife and mother, but my efforts to become this
‘ideal’ woman stated in Proverbs can leave me grieved and depressed.

I felt especially defeated the year my youngest son started kindergarten. In
Tennessee, kindergarteners follow a scattered schedule the first two weeks of
school where half of the class attends one day and the rest comes the following
day. It helps them adjust. For me it brought confusion.

On Tuesday, I took my son to school, kissed him good-bye, and headed home
to work.

I
was busy at the computer when the telephone interrupted my pace. ‘Hello?’

‘Mrs. Campbell, this is Parker’s teacher. I was wondering who would be picking
him up from school today.’

Stunned that I had forgotten my child, I jumped in the car and raced to the school.
He stood on the sidewalk holding his teacher’s hand with tears in his eyes and
REJECTION stamped across his heart. I took him home, apologized profusely, and
made his favorite meal for dinner. I felt like the worst mother ever.

Thursday,
we returned to school. All was going well until I was, once again, interrupted
by the phone. I hadf orgotten to pick up my child not once, but twice in the
same week!

I
sped to school on two wheels. This time he was standing with the room mother,
who was obviously a true Proverbs 31 Woman. As she helped him buckle his
seatbelt, I tried explaining myself.

‘You’re not going to believe this, but I did the same thing earlier this week.’

‘Yeah, I know.’ She replied bluntly.

I felt I’d been labeled a ‘bad mother,’ and I felt like a complete failure.

Later that same year, God encouraged me as a mother when ParentLife
magazine named me one of eight ‘Mothers of the Year!’ Parker’s reaction to this
surprising news was, ‘If they lived with us for a while, they’d probably reconsider.’

Those were my thoughts exactly. In fact, I asked my husband how I could be given
such a great and undeserving honor. With wisdom, he shared that maybe it was
God’s way of saying I’m doing better than I think.

His wisdom helped me put things into perspective. God never said I had to
be perfect. That was my expectation. He never said that I wouldn’t make
mistakes or a wrong decision every now and then. Again, that was my hope. I had
assumed that the Proverbs 31 lady did everything right and I was suppose to as
well.The problem was, with all her great accomplishments, I never considered
her ‘not so good’ side.

Sometimes
I let the bad out weigh the good. Perhaps the ‘Mother of the Year’ award was
God’s way of saying, ‘Hang in there. You’re doing better than you think, and I’m
not the only one who notices.’

Despite my many mistakes, perhaps my children will some day arise and call
me blessed.

The next time you need encouragement, let God whisper to your heart: ‘I hear
when you pray for your children, and I’m there when you teach them about who I
am. I watch you love, care, and sacrifice for them. You’re not perfect, but hang
in there. You’re doing better than you think.’

Dear
Lord, help me to be the mother my children deserve. Encourage my heart when I
feel like a failure. Erase my errors from the hearts and minds of my children.
Instead, help them to see Jesus in me, Amen.