mothers: change the world, launch futures & shape souls

I would like to introduce you to a guest blogger. The inspiring B. Heather Moore! A woman after God's heart. You can find her here on Twitter and Facebook. As well as connect with her on her blog. She is an inspiration to many and one of God's leading ladies!

I checked my watch. It was 11:23 a.m. to be exact. So early in the day, and I just changed the third dirty diaper. The day was shaping up to be more smelly and less exciting than I hoped.
To be honest, there are days when I long for some excitement. As a pastor’s wife, I daydream about doing something important at the church. Eagerly, I await the details of my husband’s day because I love to hear about ministry, I love to talk about ministry, I love to hear the stories of God at work in people’s lives. Some days I wish I could be at the church to be apart of something big.

My tendency is to think the mundane is unimportant because it is dull, boring. Truly, the polar opposite of exhilarating. There are no awards ceremonies for changing the poopiest diapers; no one celebrates the wiping of runny noses.

But it occurs to me that everyone from Oprah to slick L.A. marketing executives can ‘redefine’ anything these days. (Oprah says that 50 is the new 30. As I approach middle age this is one redefinition I don’t mind.) My redefinition of motherhood involves finding beauty in the mundane. I have the task of raising the lovely soul God has entrusted to me. It is my responsibility to shape her character, expose her to God’s global Kingdom, and to launch her into her future.

Before my daughter was born, I prayed three things. I prayed she would be tall. Sounds silly, but being short has never afforded me the opportunity to purchase pants off the ready to wear rack. Well, that’s not exactly true. I could buy the perfect length jeans from Petite Sophisticate. But I’d rather not wear jeans with elastic in the back. Naturally, I thought it would be nice if my daughter never needed a tailor.

Also, I hoped she would get her dad’s personality. His personality attracts all sorts of people. He has friends from all walks of life. Every time I turn around, he is encouraging those around him.
Thirdly, I prayed my daughter would be the next Lottie Moon.

Not many people know who Lottie Moon was. Charlotte Diggs, her given name, was a young single woman who in 1873 left the security of home, gave up all comforts and conveniences, and yielded all that she was and all she hoped to be for God to use in the distant land of China. So committed to the cause of Christ that when a famine hit the land and food was scarce she gave away all her food. She literally starved to death while protecting and saving the lives of countless Chinese children. Even in death she yielded all she had, every morsel of food, for the cause of Christ.

I never want my daughter to know the pains of hunger or the thirst of dehydration. I want to her to know true love and marry a wonderful man. I want her to experience the absolute overwhelming joy of having a child of her own.What I do want, however, is for my daughter to possess the same spirit as Lottie Moon. I want her to live with a willingness to abandon all comforts, all dreams, all conveniences in order to fulfill God’s dreams and plans for her life. I hope she accomplishes things I could never do and that she goes places I never went. I hope she attempts things I was too scared to try. Desiring these things for my daughter means my responsibility is huge. I have to expose her to cultures, languages, and all manner of odd foods in order to cultivate a love for the world. There will be a day when I take her on her first mission trip and have to explain to her why there are children who live in one-room huts and sleep on dirt floors. I will have to model sacrificial service and generous giving to prove that God is trustworthy….that God is worth abandoning all comforts and conveniences for in order to be apart of His global kingdom.

Shaping her character will require capitalizing on hundreds of teachable moments. I have to watch and be ready to catch those teachable moments so they don’t come and go without my notice. That means I have to be aware of the mundane, because God might choose to work through moments that I think unimportant. God’s ways are not my ways and He might deem a moment important that I think otherwise. He finds beauty in things I gloss over. He finds value in things that seem insignificant to me.

Therefore, I must also see beauty in the mundane. I must be poised to catch those moments.
Those dirty diapers and runny noses aren’t so mundane. There is beauty in the mundane because each day presents an opportunity to dream big dreams and think big thoughts for my daughter. Every day is the opportunity to shape a little girl into a young woman who is so committed to carrying out God’s plan for her life that she changes the world.
Suddenly, my job description is brimming with excitement. Motherhood redefined. World changer. Future builder. Character shaper. It doesn’t get more exciting than that!
So the next time my husband comes home and says what did you today? My proud reply will be “I helped change the world, launched a future, and shaped a soul today. What did you do?”

Moms, let me hear from you. How are you redefining the mundane?

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