Invisible as a Mother

I read a story a while back comparing the work of mothers to the work of an artist. Blood, sweat, tears poured into our labors of love. All hidden within our day to day as we attempt to paint a smile of calmness and assuredness on our faces. Yet the outside world doesn’t see this part of you. They only see the product of your love. When you admire a piece of artwork, you don’t see all the time put into the piece, you see the end result.

We spend countless hours, days, years of our lives nourishing the body, souls and minds of these little humans before setting them free into the world. We pray our efforts have not been fruitless. When we release our children into the world, others do not see the effort we put into developing this treasure of a human. A second thought is not given to the time spent molding this life.

The reality is the day to day tasks we do as mothers to keep our children thriving and family running are thankless and often seem to go unnoticed. Unless of course something on our list doesn’t get done then everyone notices. This can be a bitter pill to swallow, but let me tell you, I see you.

I see you, mom.

Tears of exhaustion stinging your eyes, but still the first to take care of the babe at night.

So touched out you feel like you are crawling out of your skin, yet you immediately open your arms to your littles for another hug.

Missing meals as you are the first to make everyone’s plates and last to eat the leftovers.

Pushing through the layers of weariness to ensure you have time to read to your child and play with your child, ensuring they have the connection with you they deserve.

Staring at the blinking light on your phone. Numbly responding to messages hoping your responses are coherent.

Staying up past bedtime to finish reports, respond to emails, prep lunches and diaper bags while dreaming about crawling into your bed.

Constantly having that to do list running through your head. Checking one item off as you add two more.

Wondering how many more days you can make it with a mom bun before you absolutely have to wash your hair.

Trying to stay on top eating balanced, taking your vitamins, drinking water, when you are pretty sure the only thing running through your body at this point is the room temperature coffee you’ve been sipping all day.

Laying in bed when you should be sleeping. Yet you are praying you gave your littles enough snuggles, enough connection, enough opportunities for growth. Praying for their future. Praying God guides your decisions to reflect his plans for your children.

It can seem so incredibly overwhelming. It is so incredibly overwhelming. But then. But then your little mini will look up at you with that toothy grin. They will randomly run up to you and wrap their precious little arms around your neck. They will give you a super sloppy kiss on the cheek, most likely with some kind of sticky food in their mouth. They will look at you and in their eyes you will see that you are their person. Their world. Tomorrow you will wake up to do it all over again without a breath of hesitation.