Every day, I come home from work a little after 5 p.m., and I walk through the front door only to be met with a barrage of questions: 

What time is it? 

Can I have a snack? 

Can you take off my shoes?

Have you seen my toy? 

Can I have juice?

Most days, I’m expecting these questions from my littles who have been brought home by their dad only a few moments earlier. I’m fully aware that the hour between getting home and eating dinner is the most hectic hour of the day. (Can I get an amen?) 

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But some days, I get home and I’m just plain TIRED. Some days, I don’t feel like momming and my patience runs thin. Some days, I get snappy and short and I go to bed feeling like I wasn’t that great of a mom.

Some days, I feel like I failed. 

I’m guessing you’ve been there, too? If so, I’ll let you in on a little secret I’ve been learning lately. 

You don’t have to be perfect to be a great mom. 

It’s true! You don’t have to be on all the time, you don’t have to be cheery all the time, and you don’t have to have a Pinterest-worthy house or life to still be a great mom. 

How do I know? 

Because I fully believe you were given your kiddos for a reason. God made you their mama and matched you together long before they were even a twinkle in your eye.

And at no point did God believe you’d be perfect, but I bet He knew you’d be perfect for them. 

And those kiddos need you. They need all of you! They need to see you fail so they know no one’s perfect. And then they need to see you apologize and start over so they know how to do the same. They need to see you refuse to give up.

And those feelings of guilt or worry that you’ll mess this whole mom thing up? 

The fact that you go to bed at night feeling a little twinge of guilt that the day maybe didn’t go as well as you would’ve liked shows how great of a mom you are because you care.

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As moms, we care so stinkin’ much that we’ll Google tips and ideas and mom-hacks until our fingertips are raw just to make sure we’re not messing up our kids. We’ll stay up late to finish school projects or run a load of laundry so our kiddo can wear their favorite shirt to school the next day. 

The fact that you care about messing up, in and of itself, shows how great of a mom you are. 

But what if I really do mess up? 

I’ve got great news: Our hope lies in the fact that (God willing), we’ll be given a chance to try again tomorrow. So apologize. And keep trying. And keep showing up. And keep growing and encouraging and pouring love into those little souls that you’re blessed to steward. 

Because that’s what makes you a great mom. 

So no, there’s no room for perfection here. It’s kind of impossible to be a perfect mom or to be a mom who covers all the bases, all the time. 

Just be you, mama. Be the mom God called you to be for your littles. 

Don’t give up hope. Today may not have gone the way you planned, but that doesn’t mean you’re a bad mom. Tomorrow, the sun will come up, and you’ll be given a whole new chance to try again. And I know you’ll do great!