Godly Mothers are Worthy of Honor All Year Long…

That’s right. Or so says the sign in front of one of my least favorite churches in town. Godly mothers are worthy of honor—not loving atheist mothers, or supportive eco-friendly moms. Nope. There are two kinds of moms—godly, and “ungodly”.

Black and white statements like that frustrate me so. To begin, “godly” is a relative concept. A mom that I would think of as godly—say a woman who loves and supports her gay child, or who lets her child choose what religious tradition to follow, or who allows her children to develop as they see fit—would not necessarily be considered "godly" by others. But beyond that, statements like the one on that church sign paint an unrealistic image of motherhood. As one author put it, “[ideal mothers are] neo-June Cleaver corporate beauties you see in the mainstream parenting magazines” (Breeder, from the introduction). When I think of the stereotype of a “godly mother”, I think of a woman who waited to have her kids until after the wedding. She stays at home, reads her Bible and does her daily devotions. She keeps the house pristine, and always has a yummy (but healthy) snack waiting on the counter for when the kids get home. She doesn’t yell, she doesn’t cry, and lord knows she doesn’t curse. She is pretty, yet practical. She gets to all the soccer games, heads up the church play, gets the kids in bed, and still has the time and energy to have sex. Yep—the perfect mom.

Here’s what the moms we know are like: they sit in deep embarrassment as their kids throw stuff on the floor in the restaurant and show their chewed food to me (thanks Caleb—you crack me up!). They are running around with a schedule that makes me tired just to see it. They clip coupons, leave their homes in a state of constant upheaval, and have a sink of really dirty dishes. They let their laundry pile up, and they run out of essentials because they were too busy when they got off work to run over to Target. And yet, they clearly love their kids. They taxi them all over town, support them at their games and school programs, and some even find time to leave cookies and presents for me, their pet sitter.

And lets not forget the other kind of “mom”—the devoted, yet equally disheveled, pet parent. These moms are no different—pet toys scatter the floor in their homes, several pill bottles line the cabinet for the sick dog in the family, pet laundry piles up, and they too run out of essentials. We water their plants, scoop the litter boxes, and give out treats from our ‘stash’—what kind of sitters would we be if we didn’t carry treats at all times?—and bring in the newspaper that the van rolled over as it flew down the driveway before dawn.

Yep—my kind of moms. Not perfect, but devoted. What I would call “godly”.

Oh, and that picture at the top? It's of me--yet another tired, messy, overworked pet mom who also functions as a piece of furniture for one of our three cats...