In the Gospel reading this weekend, Jesus sends out His disciples two by two to preach the good news. His instructions in Mark 6 are very explicit …
He instructed them to take nothing for the journey
but a walking stick—
no food, no sack, no money in their belts.
They were, however, to wear sandals
but not a second tunic.
What I find interesting about these instructions is the balance between self-reliance and trust in Divine Providence, between making plans and “going with the flow.” They were to enter a town, stay with the first family that opened their doors to them, heal and preach … and move on.
In some ways, this is also the “secret recipe” for living the life of an Extraordinary Mom. We need to maintain the balance between knowing what we can do ourselves — and when we need others to help us. We make our plans, knowing that outside forces (our own children included) will often conspire against those plans, and we need to be ready to toss that to-do list to the w ind. We need to simplify our lives, because those extra shirts add up to that much more “stuff” to manage.
Finally — and this is important — we cannot let ourselves be dissuaded from the nay-sayers, those who second-guess our own abilities to parent, or who make snap judgments about us based on what they see our children doing. Who look at the ODD child or ADHD child and assume we are not disciplining them adequately. Who see our child’s low test scores and assume we are not reading (or encouraging them to read) at home.
Repeat after me: “I am not perfect, but I am doing the best job I can do for my children today. Yesterday is past, and tomorrow isn’t here yet. TODAY I’m going to be the best mom I can be.”
Then call up a friend and schedule a play date. There is a REASON Jesus sent them out two by two. We all need a little extra support sometimes!
God bless.
Extraordinary Moms Network 