can military wives do more?

One of my least favorite things to do in the mornings is pack lunches. I grumble every time our children say they don’t want what the school cafeteria is serving. This year I am learning packing lunches means our children will actually be in school. Which feels like a miracle. So while I initially grumble at packing lunches, I’m also celebrating that our kids will get to go to school, be with their friends, and learn from their amazing teachers. Bring on packing all of the fruits and veggies and sandwiches and yogurt sticks! Hoorah!

It isn’t just lunches I can get fussy about though. Any of those seemingly small, insignificant daily tasks can become a point of frustration for me. There are moments I find myself believing I am the only one who cares what our children eat for lunch. Or I believe my feelings of not being seen while scrubbing the toilets. Do you ever get stuck in your feelings of frustration throughout your daily mom duties? Me too. 

And yes, my husband is a huge helper and yes, our children have chores. I’m not throwing anyone under the bus, but as stay-at-home moms, working moms, and military wives we understand that our tasks at home can become overwhelming and never ending. Somewhere halfway through the list we can start to feel buried. Insignificant. Invisible. We can start to question why we are even on this earth with these humans in this place. Am I right?

I don’t know about you but I was stuck in this thought pattern last week. Over and over I told myself nobody was going to notice the bathrooms are clean. I told myself it didn’t matter if the kids ate cereal for dinner because nobody cared anyways. I told myself it didn’t matter if the floors were vacuumed because nobody was going to notice. (Cue all the eye rolls, I know. But does this sound familiar?)

I could continue down this road and pull a Bible verse from the book of Esther and say, you my friend were put in this position for such a time as this. But we’re not going that direction. 

Yes, I do believe as a military wife you are purposed to live right where you are, just as you are. That’s not the pep talk I came here to write about today.

Can we do more?

Does that question seem to go against everything you just read?

I’m going to challenge us this week to take our task lists and instead of adding another item, turn them into prayer prompts.

What does that mean?

When you are smearing peanut butter onto countless pieces of bread, pray for each child.

When you are folding your husband's uniforms, pray for him.

As you go about your day, through your task list, pray for your husband. Pray for your children. Let those small touches become reminders to pray for your people.

We can read in 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 to “be cheerful no matter what; pray all the time; thank God no matter what happens. This is the way God wants you who belong to Christ Jesus to live.” But let me be the first to say this will rarely be the reality for me.

Instead of feeling like a failure every time I read this verse, I view this as the target. The goal.

When I play soccer with our local women’s league, I like to score goals. I can’t stand playing goalie or defense. I want to run the whole game, pass with my teammates and score goals. But do I beat myself up every single time I miss the net? Every single time my pass isn’t received well. Every single time I can’t run fast enough to get to the ball first as it is rolling down the sideline? No. I keep running. I keep passing. I keep moving to try to get open so my teammates can use me. I keep making shots on goal. And at the end of the game, what I remember most are the goals I score, the times I hit my target.

Here’s the thing. I don’t get those goals without taking shots. So when the apostle Paul tells us to “be cheerful no matter what” and to “pray all the time” do we give up before we even begin? No ma’am.

Be cheerful as much as you can, in as many situations as you can. Even if it lasts for a moment, you practiced. Pray in the morning, yes. Pray before meals, yes. Pray with your kids before bed, yes.

But, have you prayed over their lunches as you fill water bottles?

Have you prayed for your husband as you fold his socks?

Next time you pick up your daughter’s dirty sock off the floor, pray for her.

Next time you lovingly place your husband’s empty coffee cup into the dishwasher (the one he sat on the counter beside the dishwasher), pray for him.

Continue to take your shots on goal as you work toward being a wife and mom who prays without ceasing.