advice for new mommyhood

I hope that when my readers see the title of this post, they will not scoff at my boldness. Who am I to offer advice on motherhood? It's true! I'm barely past the first year milestone. But a friend wrote to ask for advice for the early days, and I wanted to share part of my reply with you. I may have more tidbits to share in the coming days as we continue our conversation. I hope that this does not in any way come across as arrogant, but only as pleading with my fellow mommies to avoid the insidious lies that our culture throws our way...and to cling to the truths taught in God's word. 

"One thing I desperately want to recommend is to stay away from negativity in your early days of motherhood. And that negativity can be subtle. There are so many articles to read on the internet about the early days of newborn life, and to be honest, I think a lot of them have a sinister tone to them, even if it doesn't come across at first. But it sneaks in by saying "These days are SO hard." "You wonder if you'll ever sleep again," "It can be SO HARD to take a shower," "Your whole life is changing; you are giving up who you were before," etc. Now, some of these statements may be true, but if you immerse yourself in them too long, it can be easy to develop what I think are several dangerous attitudes. Like martyrdom. "I am doing something SO HARD, have pity on me, world!" Or pride: "My job is the most important thing that one can do, and oh, hubby? I bet you haven't been slaving away changing 10 diapers today....glad you got to at least enjoy a nice quiet drive home from work while I've been holding a screaming baby that whole time!" These are the sinister attitudes that I've found laced throughout what may have been otherwise helpful articles on new mommyhood. All that to say, be careful. Never for a moment stop thanking God for your precious, precious gift. Remember that His Word says children are a gift, and cling to that truth even in the moments when your precious little one feels more like a burden. There are hard moments, for sure. Right now, Ezra's 13 months and I think it's my favorite stage so far, and life is pretty easy and fun. But there were moments when for sure motherhood was the hardest thing I'd ever done. Also don't let yourself lose heart in those moments; it can be so easy to think, "I don't think I can ever have another kid!" Don't grow weary in doing good! Motherhood is not only hard because of the physical labor of bringing a child into this world, recovering from that on little sleep, etc., but it is also spiritually hard because day by day and moment by moment our selfishness is being dealt the slow and painful blows that are necessary to put it to death. And that is pain, but it is also glory. I hope that I am not sending the same messages I am saying to stay away from. I am only saying that it makes sense that the world would dwell on the hard things of early motherhood. They do not wear the same lenses that we do; they do not know the miracle of a new soul, the precious calling to instill hope of eternal life in our children by God's grace, the absolute, heart-swelling and life-altering blessing that a child can be when embraced in Jesus' name. So embrace your little one. And fight daily for the joy of remembering that you have been given a blessing by the very God of the universe!"