Parenting Exhaustion

I zombie-walk out of dark bedrooms after praying for, tucking-in and kissing my little darlings. “Who’s going to put Mommy to bed?” is the joke in our house because, by the end of the day, I’m exhausted. Not physically exhausted, parent exhausted. Exhausted from the effort of consistent correcting and redirecting, the pile of laundry with orange spots when a wad of clay went through the dryer, the rice that baby spilled on the kitchen floor waiting to be swept, the thought of fixing the drawer that broke in the bathroom and the end table leg in the living room (um yes, two furniture breaks in one day), and top it off with making sure we’re all ready with food and school work for the next day. Parenting exhaustion!

It’s a job that I adore, but a job that sometimes squeezes soooo much out of me. 

Years before our beloved brood was born, my husband and I climbed Mount Kilimanjaro.  As we made our summit push, the difficulty of the terrain and unforgiving altitude tempted us to give up. Is it really worth it? Each time we slid on the volcanic scree or had to take three breaths before another step, we asked ourselves. 

But we had come so far! At some point, you just can’t give up.  You can’t go back. There is no real choice: you can only go forward. And so forward we went. One step at a time, sliding backwards, encouraging each other, moving on, slow progress towards a definite goal.  It’s going to be worth it! 

Parenting is a slow, consistent, sometimes very challenging climb.  There are moments when the road seems endless and all we see is the mountain in front of us.  There are moments when we slide backwards. There are moments when we need to take a deep breath! 

There are moments when we feel like giving up and need encouragement.  Mama, if you’re in one of those moments, remember that there are summits along the way, and you are going to look back and say, it was worth it! For now, take one more step. 

And after that, just one more step. 

It’s going to be worth it!

So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up. 

Galatians 6:9 (NLT)

By the way, we did summit Kilimanjaro, and the view was amazing. 

But from the parenting summit -- I bet the view will be even better.