I recognized that… all can eat and drink and enjoy the good of all their toil – this is a gift from God.     Ecclesiastes 3:13

Jocelyn adores her second grade teacher. She talks non-stop about all that she says and does. So when Jocelyn was chattering on and on in the car the other day about something she learned, my mind was elsewhere.

I finally tuned in, and was pretty impressed with all she was saying about the topic. When she finally took a breath, I said, “Wow, Jocelyn! You’re pretty smart. Who taught you that?” I presumed she would say her teacher. But to my surprise, that wasn’t the case.

“You, Mommy,” she said. “You taught me that a long time ago.” It had to have been a long time ago because I had no recollection of it at all. I also can’t recall the last time I felt such satisfaction as a mom.

Lo and behold, what I’m trying to teach my kids doesn’t always fall on deaf ears! One of my little lessons had actually gotten through. As I drove through the windy back roads to our destination, it felt more like I was driving on Cloud Nine.

It’s astonishing how much repetition there is in motherhood: doing the same laundry over and over again, cooking the next meal when the dishes from the previous meal are still dirty in the sink, vacuuming the same rugs ad infinitum.

But the most exhausting repetition is teaching the same lessons again and again to my kids. My voice gets rubbed raw sometimes from repeating myself all the time: use your manners; treat others like you want to be treated; be grateful not greedy. Sometimes I’m tempted to record my voice and just hit “play.”

I know we’re all in the same boat. There are very few kids out there who ingest a lesson on the first take. “Repeating” is a major bullet point in the motherhood job description. But that doesn’t make it any less tiresome.

So when one of our kids actually learns from us, we have to recognize our accomplishment. Even in the midst of the busyness, we need to stop and take a moment, pat ourselves on the back, and celebrate ourselves and the victory, no matter how small.

Goodness knows we beat ourselves up enough for all the mistakes we make along the way. It’s shining a light on these golden moments of success that gets us through the desert times of motherhood.

Questions For Reflection:

     * Do I often rehash the mistakes I’ve made in motherhood?

     * Do I spend equal time celebrating my successes?

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Although it was yesterday, it’s not too late to stop and be grateful for the gift of motherhood, and celebrate the gifts that you are as mothers!

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