Daily Graces.

After almost 10 years of motherhood, the Lord continues to purify my purpose and invites me to keep growing in my vocation. I never thought I'd be one to pray a daily rosary. Having rattled them off mindlessly in my younger days, it was something I never felt an attraction to, and that's putting it lightly. That is, until our recent camping experience which forced my hand. I see the graces of the Rosary in the joy and perseverance I now have more of to shoulder the daily responsibilities of motherhood. 

Obedience to a vocation is hard, and it is no different with motherhood. The call to obedience comes in the little things, like getting up at 6.45am with the alarm (and the husband) to prepare lunchboxes and breakfast, or in answering the call for "mum" for the nth time that hour. It comes in the big things, too, such as the decision to turn down a job offer that would take me away from my primary work. As underrated and overlooked as obedience is in this day and age, I have found it to be a marvelous soil for growing in patience and love. 

School-going traffic has been exceptionally bad this week, and what used to take us 10 minutes now takes us 25. As I sat in traffic on my way home after a ninja-level drop-off (that required deployment of all my small-road knowledge), the song Mamastery, by Danielle Rose, played on Spotify:

"Cloistered in these walls

My sacrifices hidden

Consecrating life

For my children

This is where God called me

To fulfill my vows

To give my life to him

As wife and mother now

And drop by drop

Flesh and blood poured out daily

In union with his cross

A mother's martyrdom

A rose unpetalled

Freely for you, Lord

Love is its own reward"

I needed to hear that. In that moment, the unseen and insignificant moments were elevated and nailed to the cross. There in the packing of lunchboxes, the folding of laundry, the vacuuming, we meet Jesus. 

It's a road with its ups and downs; the call to choose love and life challenges me daily. In the fray, I've come to realise that as I nurture and guide our children, I too grow along with them on my own journey in faith.