There is a Season

I love being a mom.

It is, truly, one of my most favorite things in the world to get to do. I am sure I am not the best mom in the world, but I am also sure I love it with an unbridled passion.

Just today, I got to experience my “mom-hood” in a cool way. With temps in the high 60’s, we spent the afternoon outside with the kids soliciting money in exchange for cans of generic Ginger Ale and left-over Halloween candy. It brought joy to my heart (not only to clean out our pantry) to see my children enjoying such a carefree, child-like task. As with many moments as a mom, it was a simple...beautiful..."cherishable" moment.

But before I was a mom, I experienced other memorable moments. I laughed, before I was a mom. I made really tough decisions. I loved and I was loved. I walked with Jesus and I walked away from Him.

Before I was a mom, I had a pulse. I had a DNA structure. I had a name.

My journey has not always included my role as mom. Now, it does. And praise be to God for that. But it hasn’t always.

Which is why I think I am so passionate about encouraging women to resist defining themselves by a certain role or task. Because as life changes, often, so do our roles.

Not long ago I was asked to read over a bio of mine that was to be included in an article I had written for a magazine. When I did, what I read gave me pause. “Lisa Whittle is a wife, mom, author and speaker…” and on from there. I took a step back and realized that all the ways I defined myself in that bio were task-oriented. They were beautiful tasks. They were wonderful tasks. But they were…tasks. Roles. Things I got the privilege to do.

They were not, however, what made me…me.

I know that is a somewhat foreign concept for most of us to swallow. We are used to defining ourselves by our roles, most of our life. We are the daughter of a preacher. The wife of a doctor. The mom of an honor student. Someone’s best friend. A career woman. A Sunday School teacher or youth volunteer. A really good neighbor.

These roles are beautiful gifts from God for us to enjoy while we are on this earth. But I am being reminded of late that these are not what we were created or put on this earth to do, despite how awesome and fitting for us they may be. But rather, we were put on this earth to live in a state of intimacy and fellowship with God…sharing His powerful message of hope and redemption…and living a life that surprises people, in a good way.

More and more, I am convinced our roles in life are gracious gifts God has given us to be able to be a little more comfortable on this earth, while we are here. They are beautiful and rich and full. But we need to keep them in balance.

Today, let’s remember that we were created to worship God, not our roles. Let’s enjoy them. Let’s do them well. Let’s treasure them while we have them.

But let’s enjoy Him more. Pursue Him stronger. Make being His daughter the main thing on our mind. Relish in the fact that our role as His child will never change, no matter what earthly role may.

I hold the visual of my toothless daughter selling generic Ginger Ale to a sweet passerby today in both my head and my heart, happy to have gotten to be her mom long enough to have that moment and praying for many more of the same to come.

But I hold the promise in my heart that I am a daughter of the King, forever and always, even beyond the days He has given me on this earth to experience a beautiful, breezy day with my family.

Thank you, Jesus, for this season and these roles.

Thank you, more, that you have an eternal role for me, far greater.

“I'm asking God for one thing, only one thing: 
To live with him in his house my whole life long. I'll contemplate his beauty; I'll study at his feet. “ Psalm 27:4: (The Msg)