On a typical school day by 6:10 am I have already been up for an hour and a half, and I'm at the stove starting Abigail's skillet lunch. I grab a banana from the pantry and the yogurt from the frig, the strawberries too and quickly make Anna's smoothie. I start her egg. I wonder why her door isn't open. I need to run upstairs to make sure she is moving but I don't want to burn the lunch or the egg.
Oh good, I hear her door. She's a few minutes late this morning.
She comes downstairs and is half asleep as she eats and drinks her smoothie. I stop my rushing in the kitchen to say good morning. When she's done eating she says the same thing to me she's said for as long as I can remember, "thanks for the yummy breakfast". And she fills my heart.
She goes upstairs to get ready for school and has only 15 minutes to be in the car.
Move the clothes from the washer to the dryer.
I finish Abigail's skillet lunch and put it in her thermos as I start an omelet for her. I can keep the burner on low and run up to wake her up. Shades up, morning CD on. She's so peaceful - I reach in for a quick snuggle - and I wish our day could stop right there.
Move Anna along - remind her she has 4 minutes to be in the car. Do it gently and tenderly, Tara.
Check the weather. These April days have us in winter coats one day, spring jackets the next, back and forth until summer. It might be raining so I put the little umbrella in Anna's backpack for her walk home from school.
Finish the omelet. Anna is back in the kitchen ready to get in the car. It's 7:04, right on time.
I run upstairs one last time and Abigail is sitting on her floor starting to get dressed into the outfit we picked out the night before. I tell her that I'll be back in 6 minutes and for her to start eating. Her omelet is at the table.
I race back downstairs and into the car where Anna is. I drive her to school. As I drive I pray aloud for her day - and then out of the car she goes.
Back home - I add the water bottle to Abigail's backpack remind her of how little time she has to eat.
I get her medicine ready. And her elecare. She likes her elecare (medical drink) really cold so I take the empty bottle out of the freezer where I put it sometime in my morning rush and fill it with elecare. She drinks some and I add it to her backpack.
I bring the laundry from the dryer upstairs and quickly fold it on my bed.
I run upstairs and grab my teaching shoes and finish my jewelry and makeup in less than 2 minutes.
She's looking out the window and telling me about a squirrel she sees. I stop and listen because we have a minute to spare.
I remind her of our plan for pick up in the afternoon.
She wants to turn the music on for the bird so I give her that time before we get in the car.
I drive her to school and pray for her day as I drive. She likes two waves. One as she's getting out of the car, one as she's walking toward the door. I wait so I can give her both.
Then I drive to my school.
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I have grown in the past 14 years I've been a mother. One of those ways that hasn't changed {even though they are older} and I've just been more aware of is being a servant.
I realize looking back and in what I do now the importance of the many thousands of routine moments in a mothers life and in these moments that the real greatness of life is taught to our children.
It isn't about all the 'things I do'.
It's how I respond to my daughters in those everyday moments that wins their hearts.
When I have respect and patience in the small moments of life that are so important to them - when I approach them with a servants heart then I build up our relationship and can teach and guide them in their lives.
The biblical model for loving and teaching with a servants heart was Jesus. I think about one of the last moments his disciples had with Him and what He was doing - He was humbly, gently, tenderly, ministering to them. He was serving them. He was touching them, serving them, feeding them.
And what happened in the process? He won their hearts by serving them in love.
That is what mothers do each day - when we choose to tenderly, humbly, gently serve in love each day we win their hearts.
To me choosing to serve is to enjoy Anna's happiness and wide awakeness in the evening when I'd rather be reading in bed and half asleep. It's knowing that this stage of life is passing and this is when she's awake and available to receive love from me. It's listening to her. Talking with her. Being with her.
To me choosing to serve is helping Abigail remember her pain strategies. To take the time to review them in the middle of the week - to do imagery with her when I have a pile of math tests to correct.
To me choosing to serve is to set up a playdate for Abigail on a weekend with a sweet friend when I'd rather have just the 4 of us home - it's being grateful for an answered prayer - remembering that I prayed for friends for her.
To me choosing to serve is to help Anna find clothes that are comfortable for her and make her feel good.
Above all choosing to serve is to know I that I already made a decision to make myself available for the routine tasks and unending interruptions.
And in that, all of that is the servant heart of a mother. My hands and heart serve, their hearts are open. And they receive.
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