Volatile mom showed up today.
I don’t know where she came from, but she certainly made her presence felt.
Volatile mom is not very nice to be around. Sharp, careless words roll off her tongue. She is impatient and too quick to react. Resentment and frustration simmer beneath the surface, like water on the boil, bubbling away until it reaches a crescendo. A sudden eruption of anger, that leaves everyone scurrying in its wake.
Volatile mom doesn’t play well. Her rebukes lack kindness, her hugs are cold. Tired, disconnected, and distracted she is simply getting through the day as best she can.
I don’t much like her—this volatile mom—and neither do my children. She is so very far removed from the kind of mother I am called to be, and certainly not the kind of mom they need, or deserve.
And yet.
In spite of it all, these little people that have borne the brunt of her mood all day, still reach for her at bedtime. With forgiving hearts and abundant love, they cling to her for warm, sleepy snuggles, finding warmth and comfort in her familiar embrace.
“I love you mama,” they whisper. And they mean it. But how? How can they mean it? How can they give so much love back to one who has not earned it, who is not deserving of it, or even of them today?
They are giving her a lesson in grace.
I love Ellie Holcombs take on Lamentations 3:22-23:
“As sure as the sun will rise,
And chase away the night,
As sure as the sun will rise,
His mercy will not end. His mercy will not end.”
Every day, like my sweet, forgiving children, He gives us grace. New mercies with the rising sun. And oh how we need them.
Grace that says: “I know it was a rough day today. I love you anyway. Let’s try again tomorrow.”
And so she will.
Because even volatile mom is no match for His grace.
