Who Do You Serve?

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Mother. Mom. Mama.

Dictionary.com defines mom as “a person’s mother or one’s mother.” With Mother’s Day approaching this coming Sunday, May 10, we will have an opportunity to celebrate these special women in our lives. For all you husbands and kiddos, consider this post a friendly reminder to plan something sweet! After all, motherhood (and fatherhood alike) takes a lot of energy, time, and (perhaps most crucially) patience.

Recently, as I’ve been pondering my role as a mom, I’ve been asking myself a specific question: Who exactly do I serve?

As a pregnant stay-at-home toddler mom and wife of a hardworking man, it can often seem as if there are more than a few daily tasks that need my devoted attention at all times, even though that’s impossible.

The laundry is endless. Meals need to be fixed on time. Lest we forget, the bath and sacred bedtime routines. And as many moms know, there is an unseen obligation to keep everyone’s schedules in order while maintaining family visits and relationship upkeep with loved ones. Meanwhile, I am also so blessed to serve AFA’s ministry.

Now, these tasks are not new or groundbreaking.

They are just a part of everyday life – but sometimes these little tasks can catch us off guard and, if we are not careful, make us more prone to irritation.

In light of the upcoming holiday, here are two interesting facts regarding the busy nature and beauty of motherhood:

The University of Bath reported in 2024 that “Mums take on 79% of daily jobs like cleaning and childcare—over twice as much as dads (37%). Dads, meanwhile, focus on episodic tasks like finances and home repairs (65%).”
Pew Research Center found in 2023, “The vast majority of mothers (88%) say that being a parent is the most or one of the most important aspects of who they are as a person, with about a third (35%) saying it is the most important aspect.”

Among the moms I personally know, these thoughts and feelings seem valid, especially the latter. To many, becoming a mom is a dream and an answered prayer (myself included).

However, let’s face it, some days the enemy of our souls loves nothing more than whispering sweet little lies in our ears, telling us how insignificant and unimportant our roles as mothers are.

If we’re not careful, it is easy to listen to him.

Is picking up toys off the floor or sweeping up breakfast crumbs really changing the world or eternity? Is reading bedtime Bible stories or racing cars really that important? It’s not moving or shaking the culture, or even offering a hand to help anyone outside our households.

In those moments, at least here lately, that’s when that question re-arises: Who do I serve?

Yes, I try serving my children and husband (hopefully) to the best of my ability.

But at the end of the day, they aren’t who I should place my focus on. In fact, if I want to succeed, it’s critical that I don’t.

When those thoughts of doubt and stress creep in, it’s obvious that I do not have my priorities completely straight (and that I’m living in my own strength). Luke 14:26 explains,

If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple (Luke 14:26).

Serving Him above all is the best way to bring order into our homes and minds as we focus on the daily tasks placed before us.

The question is, as moms, will we truly point our hearts and minds to Him before directing our attention to other matters? Because that is the only way we will lead our homes and accomplish every task put before us with His goodness and grace.

But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord (Joshua 24:15).

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