#14: Moms

Love Your Neighbor Challenge

God has a soft spot for moms.

“He will feed his flock like a shepherd. He will carry the lambs in his arms, holding them close to his heart. He will gently lead the mother sheep with their young.” Isaiah 40:11

I don’t have to look any further than this photo of me and my mother to imagine God tenderly carrying a baby lamb in His arms.

Not only did my mom spend countless hours making me this beautiful album, but she and my father gave me a picture-perfect life.

Now that I’ve raised my own child, I understand the incredible love of a parent… and the challenges. It’s gloriously hard work being a mom.

That’s why today’s Love Your Neighbor Challenge (which just so happens to fall on my sweet mama’s birthday), is to encourage a mom.

Here are 10 ways to love on moms:

Compliment her kids. Kind words about our children will be pondered in her heart for a long, long time. Remember how to give a compliment?
Tell her she’s doing a good job. Let her hear the words out loud: “You are doing a good job.”
Sympathize with her. Try to imagine her frustration, her fears. Walk a mile in her sensible flats or cute wedge heels.
Give her grace. Next time her kids play too loud, too late, give her grace. When they ride their bike through your lawn, give her grace. When they block your parking spot, give them grace.
Tell her about a time parenting was hard for you. Sometimes a story is all it takes to give her hope.
Share her joy. Celebrate her kid’s successes with her. Potty training? Honor roll? Give her a high five across the picket fence!

Help her out. Do her a special favor, like watch her kids in her front lawn while she does dishes (or do her dishes while she plays with the kids!).
Give her kids a gift. A simple balloon makes most kids smile.
Give her a gift card. Most moms invest more time and energy—not to mention money—on their families instead of themselves. Give her a little something just for her like a gift certificate to a local coffee shop, restaurant, movie theater, salon, or store.
Pray with her. Don’t just pray for her, pray with her. It’s not necessary to bow your heads or close your eyes, just talk to Jesus as if He’s standing with you. A sweet, simple prayer would go something like this, “Would it be alright if I prayed with you right now? Dear God, please bless this momma as she raises these beautiful kids. Give her wisdom and strength, love and grace. In Jesus’ name, amen.”

Do you see what we didn’t do here? We didn’t offer any helpful advice, we didn’t tell her what she ought to be doing differently. We didn’t shame her, judge her or condemn her. We didn’t point out her problems (she’s well aware, trust me). Heck, we didn’t even invite her to church!

When they found out we didn’t go to church, can you believe not one single mother invited me to go to church with her?

Instead, they invited me out for coffee. We worked together on committees and school carnivals.

Our children played at each other’s homes.

They were simply lovely, and they simply loved me.
How to Love Your Neighbor Without Being Weird, page 22

I’m picturing the moms from neighborhoods all over the country who will be the recipients of your acts of kindness. One goes to bed smiling because someone complimented her son’s good manners. Another wonders if that neighbor who scraped ice off her windshield was God’s answer to her half-hearted plea for help this morning. Yet another can’t shake the sense of peace that settled over her when a neighbor—a stranger, really, but now more like a friend—whispered a prayer for her, as if God was really real.

As if He cared. As if He heard.

Because you did.

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If these tips and tools have given you a new idea, if you’ve met a new neighbor or thought about your neighbors in a different way, would you please let me know?

Contact me or message me on Instagram or Facebook. I’d love to hear your stories!