Now You See Me, Now You Don't

In the last blog, I looked at Hagar and how she was seen by God. I read a blog post a couple of years ago, called Nobody Saw You. It's about being a mum, and how a lot of what mums do isn't seen....the nose and bum wiping, the repeated story reads, the sleepless nights, the tantrum training, the losing it and apologising, the vomit clearing, the nursery rhyming, the bag holding, the gospel truthing, the tired crying etc 
(**The F word appears in it once, just a little warning). 

I remember crying as I read the blog post, because I resonated with it. I had a one year old, and a three year old, as well as the boy ones, and I was touched by it. Mummying can leave you a bit isolated, and feeling a bit invisible. You kind of want someone to see all the little bits that you have done, and give you a 'well done'. But a lot of those little bits aren't seen, and sometimes the house can look exactly how it looked at the start of the day, and the child can sound exactly how they sounded at the start of the day, and you can feel exactly how you felt at the beginning of the day. 

So much actually goes on, in the life of a mum, whether it's noticeable or not. 
The blog post, says at one point,

"Nobody sees you sometimes
but you are building something
that will never be torn down
a love that cannot be removed".

It speaks of a mother's love for her child, the building and training of that little person; a powerful thing indeed. 

"Train up a child in the way he should go; 

even when he is old he will not depart from it". Proverbs 22v6

The blog is written for a friend of the blogger, but I think it resonates with any mum. Like I said, it touched me personally. But also it gave me the challenge to make sure mums felt seen. So I bought some little bars of chocolate, some little bottles of wine, and some name tags. I simply wrote, "You are seen".  And I asked a few other mums to do it too. 

I stopped the car, and got out to give a mum of twins, a toddler and a dog my little goodies, and she was touched. I wanted her to know she was seen. I left a bottle of Gin outside a friend's house, who was and still is in a battle, letting her know she was seen. One of the mums I asked to help me, gave her little treat to a school mum whose son had been quite ill. She put a link to my blog, the above blog and their church details on the label. The mum burst out crying, and accepted a hug and the encouragement. And someone left a mini bottle of Prosecco out for me, which even though I had planted the idea, it actually really blessed me. 

So my challenge to all you mums is to bless another mum this week; a mum you know and maybe one you don't know. Could be a little bar of chocolate, could be a voucher, could be just a card, but let her know she is seen. Maybe you're a mum who longs to be seen, and known. Well this is the week to receive by giving.  Let her know she is seen by another mum, who understands. But more than that, she's seen by God, and loved dearly by Him. I'd love to know how it goes for you! 

"Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, 

just as in fact you are doing". 1 Thessalonians 5v11