Intentional Mothering Begins with Brokenness

Let me be honest about something, I’d rather not begin with brokenness. I’d rather skip right over this hard stuff and move onto the grace stuff. Because brokenness … well, brokenness is messy. And yet, intentional mothering must start with brokenness, because the Gospel starts with brokenness.

The story of the Gospel is the story of a loving God redeeming broken people. And intentional mothering is nothing if it isn’t the gospel lived out. So it starts with brokenness. Your intentional mothering story, my intentional mothering story … it all starts with brokenness.

Because you and I are a broken people. We came into this world kicking and screaming, daughters of Eve and products of the fall. And no matter how “good” we may try to be, we are sinful to our core.

When we become mothers, we bring this sinfulness into the relationship with our children, and each of them bring sinful natures of their own into the mix. Suddenly we are broken mothers, parenting broken children, and we wonder why this role is so hard. We yearn to mother with intentionality, but we feel defeated. We long to live abundantly, but we feel we’re barely staying afloat. Society tells us we should be everything to everyone, so we paint a smile on our face, feign contentment and shove our brokenness beneath the rug for fear that someone might find us out.

Because we’re not supposed to acknowledge our brokenness.

Or are we?

Here’s what I know to be true. Acknowledging our brokenness is absolutely vital to our position as mothers. Why? Because we can’t mother with intentionality until we realize that we are wholly incapable of doing it on our own.

Did you hear that? We can’t mother these children with intentional purpose on our own; we need a rescuer to intercede. And it’s our shortcomings and our failures that reveal that desperate need. 

When our patience wears thin and we lose our temper, when we prioritize meaningless tasks over meaningful relationships, when tears erupt and hearts are wounded … it’s these moments that amplify our brokenness and bring us to our knees. And that’s the paradoxical beauty in a mother’s brokenness. Because it’s our brokenness that causes us to look up. 

So we lift our eyes … and then our Help comes. Redemption steps into the middle of our failures, our shortcomings, our inadequacies and says, “You can’t do this, child, but I can.” And suddenly our brokenness becomes a tool that drives us to our Savior, because He’s the only one who can redeem us. He’s the only one who can turn our mothering story into one of redemption and grace.

So my challenge for you today is for you to acknowledge your brokenness. It’s time we stopped pushing it aside, shoving it down … let’s bring it out into the light so we can then take it before the Lord. Whatever your shortcomings, mistakes or failures may be, it’s time to bring them before the Lord. This is the first step in mothering with intentionality, but it’s just part of the story. Because although you and I are broken moms, this isn’t where our motherhood story ends! There is good news coming, my sweet friends … news of abundant grace!

Join us right here, tomorrow for that good news of grace and how it impacts intentional mothering!

This is Day 5 in 31 Days of Intentional Mothering. To start reading from Day 1, click here.

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Like what you see here? Then you’ll love my first-ever children’s book, Bruce the Brave. Now available on Amazon! 

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