An End-of-Summer, Back-to-School Letter to the Tired Moms

Hey momma. If you just sent your kids back to school after being with them 24/7 this summer you may be having some feelings. I’m not going to pretend we are all having the same feelings right now… but I just know that there are some things being felt. You get me?

If you are like me, you probably built up a to-do list over the summer that you told yourself you’d tackle once you had a minute. And now the minute has arrived, and perhaps, also like me, you’re finding yourself still struggling to check those boxes.

So I’m taking it upon myself to be the person who tells you to go put that list down on the counter and take a nap.

Being a mom during the summer means being all the thing to all the people. It means regulating yourself and training small people to regulate themselves. It means spending countless hours training your children to behave appropriately in a variety of situations. It means spending every waking moment doing things like:

• cooking
• cleaning
• snack-dispersing
• shopping
• stooping
• washing
• folding
• wiping
• and listening

And on top of all of this, I’d bet a lot of money that you also read to them, played games, helped with crafts, kept them from drowning in the pool, negotiated screen time limits, taught them life skills, and had a million little conversations that point them to the gospel.

If you have a kid (or more) with medical needs you also added in appointments, and the extra complication of arranging all-the-child-care for your other kiddos while you sat in waiting rooms, advocated for your child, filled prescriptions, and waited on hold while you tried to get the doctor’s office to call you back.

It may have been summer, but momma you’ve been working hard.

So, let me be the person who tells you that it is okay to put that to-do list to the side today. Go pick up a book, or lay down your head, or eat all of your favorite snack without having to hide it from sticky little fingers. It’s okay to rest, to pause, to breathe. Resting is productive, God-honoring work.

Remember that the world will keep spinning today because it is God who holds it and not you.

Remember that the Lord is the one who quiets your soul better than marking-off-your-list ever can.

Remember that you are loved not because of what you do, but because of who you belong to.

Remember that God sustained you this summer, and he will continue to sustain you this fall with all the new routines, teachers, schedules, extracurriculars, lessons, therapies, appointments, and surprises.

May you be able to find a minute to rest today. May the Lord restore your soul through the stillness and quiet.

In peace I will both lie down and sleep; for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety.

Psalm 4:8

It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives to his beloved sleep.

Psalm 127:2

Tell me below how you will rest today. What to-do-list item are you going to intentionally set down so you can rest in the Lord?