Holistic motherhood encompasses all the many facets of being a mother and the heart that drives us. As moms we have to be the cook, the maid, the teacher, the chauffer, the secretary, the nurse, the nurturer, the encourager, the shoulder to cry on, and so much more. At times it can feel overwhelming and like we are just surviving.
All of these responsibilities are constantly present, then you open up social media to find out that your child’s favorite snack contains another ingredient you have to add to your do not buy list. That list is getting long. You already need to find a new toothpaste because the last natural one you got made your daughter cry and say it was too “hot”. Then you head to the kitchen only to realize that your dough is over proofed because you got busy caring for the kids and forgot to come check it. Trying to run a household and raise children is a lot, but add in wanting to makes sure you are serving healthy food, use safe cleaning and personal care products, and finding better alternatives to all the products you now realize you aren’t comfortable using, can be overwhelming.
I understand, because I have been walking this way for a long time. I remember when I first correlated food dye to my sons extreme mood swings. I decided we wouldn’t buy products with food dye anymore. Then months down the road I was still finding products I used to buy had food dye on the ingredients list. One of the most shocking to me was yellow boxed cake mix! This began my journey to cooking from scratch. A journey that over 10 years later that I am still on. You can’t change all your products and everything you use overnight. It take time and in some seasons of life may be completely impossible because of finances, health, family circumstances, or other things out of your control. That is where grace comes in. We change what we can and ask God to cover the rest.
I bought bread for years before committing to making it from scratch. Now making bread is what I call a “hill I die on”. In other words it is now part of my life and I will not go back. Does that mean we never eat store bought bread? No, if we are eating with others and that is what they have or upon rare occasion I purchase a loaf because it is needed and I haven’t had time to make it. However, most of the time, if we are out of bread we just eat something else. It has become second nature. Making bread takes little mental energy now, but that was not the case when I started.
My nature is to do everything perfectly or not do it at all. I quickly realized this was not always possible in motherhood. I learned to focus on changing one thing at a time. Once more grace was available I changed something else. This greatly reduced my mental overwhelm, but meant I had to rest that long list of things I couldn’t yet change in the Lord.
My goal on this blog is to help you find ways to change the things you want to, encourage you where you are, and help you learn how to rest your motherhood in the Lord. I look forward to sharing my heart with you.
