Mommy Guilt - is it Biblical or man made?

A lot of my friends and myself included struggle with what many of us call "Mommy Guilt". It's the guilt that follows us and keeps us trapped in a world of discontent and self-defeat. I have struggled with this many times in my journey as a mom. Am I spending enough time with my kids? Do I set a good enough example of Christ? Do they know I love them? Do I feed them well enough? Am I careful enough with our finances? I could go on. So the question is, does this guilt come from God, is it Biblical? Or have we created this extra burden and guilt ourselves?

I think maybe a little of both. Guilt is from the Holy Spirit and used by God to keep us from doing what we shouldn't or to keep us doing what we should. I do not believe that God designed this guilt that we sometimes experience in our Mom Journey to weigh us down and give us a feeling of defeat. But rather to be an encouragement and an inspiration to make changes in our lives.

As moms we are expected to wear many hats. And to juggle lots of balls. Sometimes the hats that are piled too high topple to the ground and as we struggle sometimes to pick them back up we learn that there are a few that don't need to come back on top of our heads. That maybe it's time to let one or two go. As we do that our ability to wear many hats becomes slightly easier. Less of a magic trick but rather covering of all the bases.

Once a mom, always a mom, no matter how old your child is. As a mom we will always have concern for our children and feel guilt for their choices. So what do we do with that Guilt that comes back around day after day and year after year? We use it to learn to improve and to grow in our walk with the Lord. We learn that without God in our lives we will fail and life will be pretty pointless. Once we put our God hat on first, we form a firm & solid foundation for all the other hats we wear as women & moms.

Are you putting your God hat on first each day? Take a few minutes at the start of each day to say a prayer of thanksgiving for the blessings you have in your life. Focus on something positive God has recently blessed you with before you do anything else. Use that focus as your foundation for the day. Make sure you end the day with thanks for the people you have encountered.

For the next 30 days challenge yourself to start your day and end your day with a short prayer of thanksgiving.  I pray that it will help erase the "Mommy guilt" and replace it with sense of purpose and self worth.

Praying for you!