Everyone else seems to make it look easy. The moms on TV are not only beautiful, but they also solve their problems in half-hour sitcoms that make us laugh. Somehow it wasn't so funny to me when I'd been up all night with a crying baby and then the next day had to take care of customers or employees' problems in a professional manner. The other women I worked with seemed to make a go of it. What was wrong with me?

Then there's the pressure from church. Sometimes it's subtle, but other times it can be blatant. A sermon on the Proverbs 31 woman can leave us feeling like failures. An afternoon with Mrs. Faultless Christian can leave us wondering why we can't find fifteen minutes for a quiet time every morning and why our children aren't perfect like hers.

There were lots of days I dreamed of running away.

Those of us who hang in there and continue to do the best we can need to know we're not alone. There are many mothers who feel the same way we do. We need to let go of some of the man-made pressures and prioritize what's most important.

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How Others See It: Mary Whelchel
"If you are sure of God's direction for you in the working world, then your role there is just as sacred, just as important to God, and of just as much service to him as anything else you could do. It is not second best; it is not the alternative for those who have never sensed a call into a public ministry. It is full-time Christian service!"

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Mother's Day

On the second Sunday of every May, the English-speaking world stops and honors its mothers. Card shops and florists rake in big bucks. Children write poems and make plaster casts of their hands. Breakfast is served to Mom in bed, and someone else, for a change, prepares dinner.

We have Ann Jarvis to thank for coming up with the idea for this special day. After the death of her mother, she brought a group together on the second Sunday of May to honor her memory. The first Mother's Day was celebrated on May 10, 1908, at Andrews Church in Philadelphia. Two years later the governor of West Virginia officially set aside the second Sunday in May to honor all mothers.

Excerpted from: What's in the Bible for Mothers by Judy Bodmer and Larry Richards, Ph.D. Copyright © 2008; ISBN 9780764203855 Published by Bethany House Publishers Used by permission. Unauthorized duplication prohibited.