Tired Parents, You Are Beautifully Exhausted

I could feel the dark circles around my eyes and I hadn’t even looked in the mirror yet.

I woke up tired because the night before, I’d partied like it was 1999.

Doing laundry.

I executed my brilliant idea of putting the clothes through the machines, then mass piling them in a tangled heap on my bed to fold and hang later. The original laundry mountain happened two days before. I’d already moved Mt. Everest to the floor once, deemed it invisible, and in complete denial climbed into bed. So last night, I had to face my demons. And truth: Fairy Godmothers are NOT real. They don’t clean your home and magic wand together a pretty dress – that you’ll need to iron yourself. (Also, to be noted: I like to recycle this lesson. More fun not to learn it the first time.)

So, I overslept and sacrificed my early morning refueling, alone time.

I packed my kids’ lunches, addressed boxes to be mailed, dropped my kids off at school only to realize my oldest son was supposed to have arrived early and I forgot. (Ugh.) Then, after working all day, I picked up my three boys from school, ran to the bank, then to the store…and so on. You get it. You’ve been there, too.

On the last errand of my forever day, I waited at the gym for my son to finish basketball. I opened social media and saw a quote posted by a friend:

“There is something so holy in that moment when you fall into bed after serving your family, after working to support your family… just totally spent, poured out for others. What I like to call ‘beautifully exhausted.’ You have unselfishly fulfilled your God-given role and calling for that day, as your act of worship toward the One who created the uniquely gifted you. In that moment when you close your eyes, ‘beautifully exhausted,’ know that God sees you as altogether, wonderfully, entirely and only beautiful.” (Author Unknown)

Fresh air blew through my mind as I soaked in the encouragement.

Finally, my son emerged his basketball tucked under one arm, swinging his water bottle with the other. We headed home to the bedtime routine. With the last tuck-in, a stillness fell over our home.

Which meant I finally had a chance to hang out alone with my husband. To unpack my thoughts, watch mindless television, or read from the pile of books I’m always halfway through.

family at dinner table — One of my favorite ways to connect with my family is to go out to dinner and ask a couple of these questions while we wait for the food.

What all moms need was so close…

Time to refuel was almost at my fingertips…

Until…

Our kindergartner shakily called for me, “Mom, what do you do when you can’t get bad thoughts out of your head?”

My sweet boy was convinced a crocodile was going to crawl into his bed and eat him.

“Son, we don’t live near crocodiles.”

Fearful eyes looked back at me. We peered out the window at the snowy tundra, but I still couldn’t convince him even if a crocodile made it north, it would freeze. So we snapped on the light and pulled out some books. I snuggled him close and read. And read. With each turn of the page, we pushed his scary thoughts further away. Then I kissed his sleepy head, tucked the soft covers around him, and whispered a prayer for fear to leave my precious boy alone.

My evening me-time slipped through my fingers.

Finally, I crawled into bed on my very last fumes. Completely exhausted.

But…

BEAUTIFULLY exhausted.

Tired parents – join this community of moms raising tweens and teens

You just dropped your kid off at practice, picked up another, and are trying to decide what to make for dinner. Your days are filled with work, parenting, and waiting for password reset emails.

You are parenting tweens and teens.

It’s an amazing life phase, but also challenging in unique ways. In it all, you’d love a little encouragement to help you laugh, grow in faith, see parenting hacks, get ideas to connect with your kid, and celebrate the awesome momma you are.

I got you, friend. Sign up for Empowered Moms and Kids monthly emails and get encouragement in your inbox geared for someone exactly in your life chapter. It’s totally free and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Plus, you’ll get instant access to all the great resources in the freebie library.

Read the Full Growing Your Faith Through Everyday Momlife Series

Elijah’s my favorite. Elijah’s the Old Testament Prophet who went head-to-head with the Baal prophets to show who the One True God was. (Read more about that here.)

This man who experience God’s supernatural power, later found himself in complete despair, with shaken faith, depressed and anxious, trying to hear God’s voice. (Have you been there too?) 1 Kings 19:11-13 says:

The Lord said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.”

Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.

Then a voice said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

When Elijah looked for God, he found Him. And God’s voice wasn’t in the wind, earthquake, or fire – it was in a gentle whisper.

Momma’s, God still speaks to us today. It’s deep inside of you, an inner knowing. I’d love for you to join me as I learn to discern that voice smack in the middle of my ordinary days.