Holy Meatballs: Uncomplicating Faith in the Chaos of Motherhood

It was 7:00 PM, and I was standing over the kitchen counter, physically and emotionally spent, meticulously picking meatballs out of a bowl of Spaghettio's because my 3 year old said they were "icky". My day had been a relentless, back-to-back marathon. I had just clocked out of an eight-hour workday, rushed to dance practice at 5:00 PM, navigated a t-ball practice at 6:00 PM, and finally walked through the front door with my kids at 7:00 PM. By the time my feet hit the kitchen floor, my emotional tank was completely empty. Opening a can of Spaghettio's was the absolute maximum capacity of my culinary and motherly abilities for the night.

But heaven help me, I only had the kind with meatballs. And if you have a toddler, you know that a rogue meatball can feel like the end of the world.

As I stood there digging through the red sauce, a heavy, familiar cloud settled over me: mom-guilt. But it wasn’t just guilt over a canned dinner. It was a deeper, spiritual guilt. The day was officially over, and I hadn’t opened my Bible. I hadn’t journaled. I hadn’t had a single second of a "quiet time." I felt like I had completely failed to spend time with the Lord.

But right there in the middle of the kitchen chaos, the Lord graciously gave me a reminder of a lesson I had learend earlier this year. A wave of peace washed over the exhaustion, and I was reminded of a profound truth: Everything I had done that day was exactly what the Lord had given me to do.

The Illusion of Competition

In her book Uncomplicate It, Hosanna Wong addresses the exact trap I fell into tonight. She writes about how the assignments and jobs the Lord has placed in our lives are never in direct competition with Him.

As moms, we often compartmentalize our lives. We view our "spiritual life" as something that only happens in isolation (when the house is quiet, the coffee is hot, and we are staring at a pristine notebook page). We can view our "everyday life" (the jobs, the carpools, the sports practices, and the toddler meltdowns) as distractions keeping us from God. But God didn't make a mistake when He gave you your children or your job. He knows your schedule. He knows your capacity. The holy calling of motherhood is not an obstacle to your relationship with God; it is the very arena where that relationship is meant to be lived out. Serving Him in the mundane is exactly how He planned for you to spend time with Him today.

The Theology of the Mundane

When we look at Scripture, we see that God rarely demands that we pause our lives to find Him. Instead, He consistently meets people right in the middle of their daily grind. He met Moses while he was tending sheep, Gideon while he was threshing wheat, and the disciples while they were cleaning their fishing nets.

Our everyday labor is not (always) secular; it is sacred. The Apostle Paul reminds us of this in Colossians:

"Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for man..." > > Colossians 3:23

When you rewrite that verse through the lens of motherhood, it changes everything. Whatever you do includes the laundry. It includes the spreadsheet at work. It includes driving to dance practice, cheering at the ball field, and yes, even picking meatballs out of canned pasta. When we do these things out of love for our families, we are doing them unto the Lord.

Romans 12:1 puts it beautifully:

"...give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him..."

Worship isn't just a song sung in a church pew on Sunday morning. Worship is offering up your exhausting Tuesday evening as a living sacrifice. It is looking at a messy kitchen counter and saying, "Lord, I am tired, but I am serving the people you gave me, and I offer this moment to You."

A Permission Slip for the Weary Mom

If you are a mom in a season of little years and big schedules, consider this your permission slip to lower the unrealistic expectations you’ve placed on your faith.

God is not a distant taskmaster sitting with a stopwatch, angry that you didn’t give Him 30 uninterrupted minutes of silence today. He is a loving Father who walks with you through the rush hour traffic. He is in the passenger seat during the drive to ball practice. He is standing right beside you at the kitchen counter at 7:00 PM.

You didn't miss God today. You served Him today.

The next time you find yourself overwhelmed by the mundane, uncomplicate your expectations. Exhale the guilt, take a deep breath, and remember that the Lord sees your hard work, He sees your sacrifice, and He is proudly meeting you right there in the middle of it.