Some Days You Just. Can. Not. (And guess what, that's okay)

 That time when you just can't even handle one more minute with your precious little babes and you skip evening teeth brushing because you might call it quits on parenting if those sweet things try to defy you one more time today. Then you see the toy-strewn family room but would rather pick all the toys up yourself in QUIET then wait while your children dawdle over their pick-up routine (I KNOW, okay. Not a good habit. But let's be honest, some days...) And then, to top all the wonder of childhood off with a cherry you skip bedtime routine and cut it down to one (short) story because MAMA IS GOING TO LOSE HER EVER-LOVING ANY MINUTE NOW so goodnight sweet thing, Jesus loves you and so do I but right now I'm out! Peace and sweet dreams and a better tomorrow.

Anybody ever have a day like that? From the moment your eyes open to the last goodnight kiss and "I love you" is said you are just on edge and the dominos are crashing and you feel like Epic Fail Mom because you can't handle your life or your kids and what is wrong with you?! Take a breath, soul! As Annie says, "The sun will come out tomorrow." And even if it doesn't, God's mercies will come fresh-baked and ready for you to savor. We all have days (heck, sometimes even seasons) where we are not totally on our game. Sometimes we don't even know what "our game" looks like and life is just hard. Maybe it's a phase our kids are in or maybe it's a phase we ourselves are in--and we just can't be that mom we want to be. Do you know what? We can keep the fire while ditching the guilt. It's great to have desires to be a mom who loves her kids well and lives that out daily in whatever way God has crafted it to be in you. But do you know what else is okay? Failing at that sometimes. Today I spent too much time on Facebook, stuck the kids in front of the tv so that I could cope with life, and tried my hardest not to snap each sentence out in my harshest tone. I wasn't "fun-loving mom" or "sweet-snuggly mom" or "attentive and interested mom". I was "mom who did the bare minimum and tried to smile more than I frowned". It was not awesome. But it was all I could do today. And that is okay.

I love my kids more than life itself, and most days that shows. But some days we need to let Jesus make up for the lack both in us and in our kids. We need to be kind to ourselves the way we would to a good friend, and take a long hot shower in God's grace. It may not make the day go by any quicker, but I promise you it feels a whole lot better to have an "off" day in the freedom of knowing that God will take over than in the guilt-trip of feeling like you are failing.

So to all the moms out there who had (are having) a hard day, hang in there. Take a bite of God's fresh mercy and pour an extra cup of coffee to go with it. Take a short-cut. Pray. And let God do His thing today because he is really good at doing his thing on days like this. You can try again tomorrow.

This week I am linking up with Women with Intention, Morning Motivated Mom, and Pat & Candy!