Always Content, Never Complacent {New Years Resolution}

Our pastor in Hawaii used to say, "I want to be always content, never complacent" and as a new year begins, I am claiming that phrase as my life goal for 2013.

It has taken me awhile to get where I am now as a mother; content and satisfied in my role as a SAHM.  At first I had a hard time giving up my professional identity to be "just" a mom, and later at times being "just" a mom was so overwhelmingly difficult that I yearned to return to work just to escape.  I have struggled with the lie that culture tells me that being a SAHM is insignificant.  But this year I have learned to look at my life through the lens of scripture which gives me a role model in the Proverbs 31 woman, a woman who devoted her life to the tasks of being a wife, mother, and general household manager, indicating that these tasks are significant and important to God. And now I am in a good place, a place of contentment and joy in the little tasks of motherhood.  The toddler still has tantrums, the baby still has inexplicable fussy spells and days are full of loads of laundry, little mouths to feed, and a home to manage. Despite the mundane tasks, my soul is content.  I feel like what I am doing is important and I feel privileged to be doing it.

Now that I have found contentment with what God has called me to right now as a SAHM, I am starting to feel a stirring in my soul, a longing for my life to make a difference outside of our little family bubble. This stirring is different than the longings I have had in the past.  In the past I longed to return to work to find significance.  Now, I have already found significance. This time there is just something inside of me that feels like it is going to burst, like I need to do something to help others experience the grace of God like I have.  I'm not yet sure what exactly God is calling me to at this point, but I know He is doing something in my heart to prepare me for what He has for me next and I am getting excited to learn what He is preparing me for.

This past year for me has been about finding contentment and joy regardless of circumstances. Now it would be too easy to become complacent in my own situation. But I do not want to ignore the broken world that I live in where other people need what I have in Christ. So my goal in 2013 is to be always content, never complacent.