Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Advice to a new mom

My friend who is expecting was really humble and asked for baby advice. I gave her a list of my favorite baby products and then finished with the most important advice of all. I thought I would just post it here also because it is important. Having twins and a toddler pushed me to the end of myself and my abilities and my pride and taught me a lot about the gospel lived out in the most mundane and chaotic times. I still have leagues and miles upon miles to go but I think in God's goodness he has taught me a lot in the last year. To boast only in the cross and that God truly is most glorified in me when I am most satisfied in Him. I might elaborate more on that later but for now this is my advice to a friend :).

Also, make sure you really prepare yourself by meditating on the gospel. It may sound basic, but it will prepare you to praise God for the many blessings of your new little one but also the things that will be hard. It is hard to live in the mundane and lose the freedom of spontaneity. To remember that the greatest thing you could do is to serve as Christ served though he was God will help when you feel like you have accomplished nothing but change diapers and feed the baby (which you may or may not feel). You have accomplished a TON in the eternal perspective by serving your baby by changing diapers and feeding him! It will also help when you get angry at your baby for the first time and then think you are a horrible mother (you have Christ's perfect record on your account and his forgiveness and his power to keep going and grow). Because Jesus lives in you you have the power to give yourself up for your baby, to sacrifice yourself for your babies' ultimate good; because Jesus sacrificed himself for your ultimate good.


2 comments:

Susan Stephens said...

Bravo, bravo!! Where were you when I had my first child? Oh yeah,that's right... :)
Love you, Mommy

Chris and Becky Buczinski said...

this made me cry. it's sooo true. i can get very discontent with being home all day and feel like it's unproductive, but the truth is that i'm serving my family and that is a high calling. i only get discontent when i let worldly thinking creep in... you need to do what you want, you need to be more beautiful, you need to have more fun, etc. even though i'm not the most beautiful and don't have the most fun, i am serving the high and mighty God and that is a privilege worth rejoicing over!! the mundane can be extremely rewarding when my thinking is on the eternal and not the temporal.