Something Beautiful

Mother Teresa once said, “My prayer is that you make your family something beautiful for God.” As I thought about this it occurred to me that if I were able to contribute to making my family beautiful for God that would be enough for me. In all my pondering about what to do with the time I have there really isn’t anything more important for me to do.

I love the simplicity of this goal. I can do my part to make my family wonderful. And not just wonderful but wonderful for God. God has given me this family. What I can give Him is what I make of it.

This changes how I see challenges in my family. I feel more patient with family members I struggle with because I now see this as a way to prove where my heart is. Is it full of anger and bitterness or full of love? Can I be loving with the goal of creating a better family for God? And really, the irony here is that I feel I am doing this for God, but by following His commandments I get the blessings, not Him! When I am loving and kind I feel happy. I have fewer, if any regrets. I feel His love for my family and for me.

I’ve come to understand that really loving someone is its own gift. When I do something kind for my husband I feel joy. When a son sits in my lap and we read books together I am happy. When I play games with my boys, when I’m totally present in that moment, I savor that time together. The immediate result of loving my family is I feel happy. I am blessed by loving.

It’s easy to miss seeing motherhood in this way, especially when my child decides to be the most stubborn human on the planet! But when I look back on our annual photo albums and recall all the happy times I see the frustrations in their proper place. They are things that happen, but they don’t define our family.

When I see motherhood as a way to love and serve others, even a way to make something beautiful for God, I don’t look at the everyday hard work of cooking, cleaning, nurturing, taxiing, playing, refereeing, teaching and disciplining as terrible work. I see it as the gift God has given me to make, little by little, each day, something lasting and beautiful.

On a morning run along a lake I passed a fenced-off condominium construction area. There were bricks, tools and debris everywhere. I had the thought that we make a big mess in the process of making something beautiful. There’s really no way around that!

Next time I feel like I’m in the middle of a mess at home, figuratively or literally, I’m going to remember that I’m building something beautiful for God.