My Spiritual Act of Worship...

Dear Mama of a newborn, these are hard, exhausting days.  I'm right there with you!  I know they say you will miss it {and we will someday} and they say it's only a season {and it is}... but it's still hard and lovely... but hard!  

This is a season of intense sacrifice.  We sacrifice sleep {severe understatement}. We go through the day with the use of only one hand.  We go days without a shower, meanwhile wearing clothes with someone else's spit on them.  We eat hurriedly while baby sleeps.  We literally have the life sucked out of us. We don't have the luxury of alone time, or even the ability to think two consecutive thoughts.  And like I said the other day, we have a choice: it can make us bitter or beautiful.  Motherhood is the most sanctifying thing I have ever done. 

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship...We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us....if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully... Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. -Romans 12

There is something beautifully practical in these verses for the new mama- a mama who is constantly offering her body for the life and nourishment of a newborn... this sacrificial love can be worship.  It can be, but it isn't always.  

There are nights I am painfully woken 6 times, and with a grumbling spirit I reach for my sweet babe... this is not worship.  This is drudgery! And it isn't pretty.

But there are other nights, {thankfully} where I get up graciously, feed Elizabeth once again and breathe "for You" as I serve my family in this way.  This. is. worship.  If my gift in these days is works of mercy... He calls me to do it cheerfully.  It isn't always easy.  But love and sacrifice rarely are.  He is worth it.  

So weary mama, don't just get through your days by sheer determination and caffeine- look to Him, offer your body as a living sacrifice and feel the joy of your Father!  He will carry you in these days, and your offering to Him will be sweet!