Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Leading By Example!


Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave – just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. Matthew 20: 26-28

Remember the childhood game of following the leader? I am sure you all do but I was doing a study this week on how as moms we can run ourselves completely dry to the point of looking at our loving family and wondering just where did all that love go?

As moms, it is so easy from the moment that our precious babies are laid in our arms to sacrifice anything for that child. It even follows suit with our husbands; we would love and care for them unconditionally even trading places with them if one of us had to die. We would do it without hesitation and without question.

So where do moms find the time to refill, to recharge our batteries or to get back some of our deposits we have been making into everyone else’s love banks when we are receiving overdrawn notices on our banks?

Moms naturally possess the servant’s heart that Jesus did while he was here as a man on Earth. But Jesus also understood the needs for a perfect balance to all those people pressing Him for healing or just being in His presence.

You guessed it, He removed Himself from those needy people that were always all around Him and went to a hilltop, a home of a family, or even a boat at sea. He recharged during those times, by prayer and immersing Himself in His Father’s words. Often spending all night in prayer and conversation with His Father.

This is how Jesus remained balanced and able to fully give of Himself the very next day. Full of love and compassion, we as moms find ourselves depleted of by the very next morning with that first request of our time.

We need to spend time in prayer, study, and immersing ourselves in God’s word, His diary! This is how we can wake with a completely different attitude than the one we went to bed with.

In the work place, a good manager will not just ask his employees to do something new; he will model that behavior or show them how. They don’t just expect you to know it.

So we are moms need to be wary of the types of behaviors are children are watching us model both the good and bad. Children will follow parents by what they see them do more than what they are told to do.

Do you ever find yourselves repeating the things you mom said, or even doing things your mom did? See how the pattern develops both good and bad?

Moms are constant givers and we will often put our needs last above all the needs of people in our family. We need to maintain a balance otherwise we can feel taken advantage of, and lose our perspective.

Here's another great tip, when people ask to help, LET THEM! I know if you are like me, we tell others that it's OK, we've got it, go ahead and relax or perhaps we just feel guilty and feel it's our job. Well let that go and when your kids, husband, or even guests offer to do anything, smile and take them up on their offer to help. This is another reason we run too short on our energy.

As most of us are beginning or have already started the school year, this is where moms will experience the most burn out. Between the start of our days and the end, we will be tasked to do more than ever before. At the end of the night, we will be lucky if we can lay our heads on our pillows without one more request being made.

I encourage you to make this a priority each morning to rise just a little bit early and spend 30 minutes with God. After all, it will be just the boost we need to get our days going on a positive note.

21 comments:

Debby@Just Breathe said...

Wise words.

RCUBEs said...

Love that advice on the bottom of the post! I always tell my son, start your day with the Lord, end your day with the Lord.

Have a great Tue!

Elle Bee said...

Lovely post Kat. It's always wise for moms to recharge so we can continue being the best we can be for our loved ones. What better way to recharge than with a little time with our Heavenly Father.
Elle

The Mommy said...

thank you so much for this. as youth pastors we feel as if our job is never done and often forget to recharge. thank you for allowing the Lord to speak through you today.
Lisa

Collette@Jesuslovesmums said...

great advice Kat! I needed to hear it today really I did!
Love Collette xxx

Mich said...

Great post! I can't imagine how even harder life can feel without conversation with God.

Sea Glass said...

Recharging is one of my bigest faults. I have a hard time doing for myself. Thanks for your words of encouragement to those of us who just haven't quite gotten it yet.
Blessings

Yolanda said...

Perfect title for a great post! Thank you so much Miss Kat!

Lovingly,
Yolanda

Our7isheaven said...

Loved it! That was great advice and a perfect post.

Paula

LV said...

Amen! Everything you wrote is the absolute truth. We all can do better, and if you have small children the best training they can get is parents taking the time for them in a positive way. What an inspiring post. I am so proud you left me a comment and I will be back.

Searching for God in the everyday said...

Amen! Wonderful! May I add too, how much I appreciate it when a friend asks for help? Just a couple nights ago a friend of mine (a mom of 4, 6 and under) asked me to help her. What a gift that was on so many levels. Not only to be able to pitch in, but also to feel she trusted me enough to ask and opens the door for me to feel comfortable to do the same. When we ask for help, it allows other to be blessed too!
Thanks for this, Kat,
Cory =)

Näna said...

Hi Miss Kat!
Ok so you know the country fair button? Well I made that for Mom, but whoops, I made a mistake! There was an error in the HTML so that when you click on the button, it can't find that page. Well, anyway, it is fixed now, and I would recommend copying and pasting the code again.
Just wanted to let you know!
Nana

KrippledWarrior said...

I have 21+ years of experience as a highly successful Navy leader. But my most important lesson was to never stop learning. Today you taught me a lesson. Thank you.
KW

momstheword said...

Yes, we do have to make our time with the Lord a priority. Otherwise we may find ourselves doing things in our own strength, and that's just not going to work!

I am finding it much easier to accept help (or even ask for it) than I used to!

Heidi said...

It is true.

Five Moms & A Blog said...

Yeah, we met a lot of our neighbors that way. The kids made friends and so did we!

~ Nan

Laurie said...

I love this. I constantly try to remind myself of "balance" and to recharge my battery, because it's so easy to wear myself down. Great picture too sister!
Love you, Laurie

Greg C said...

Very good post, not only for moms but for fathers as well. I like to get up a bit early every morning and reflect on the days schedule and thank God for everything. It really makes my day when I start out that way. I too need recharge time or I find myself getting burned out.

Elizabeth Mahlou said...

Really good advice. And it does apply to the office, as well as to the home.

christy rose said...

Kat,
This is excellent! We can only give as much as we have been given. Otherwise, we get worn out and resentful. If we do not operate in the overflow of God's grace and love, it is not truly a joy but a chore to take care of the needs of others. We need our love fill too. The important thing is to remember to not try and get a counterfeit fill from anyone other than the Lord Himself. That always ends in disaster too. :)
Great job on this post. I enjoyed it alot.
Christy

Crown of Beauty said...

This is so well said, Kat.
Without spending quality time with the Lord each day, we moms would soon run on empty.

Thanks for sharing so personally.

Love
Lidj