The Right Way?

This article was originally published in the Pitter Patter newsletter for my MOPS group in January 2001. It has "resolution" overtones, but they are resolutions we make everyday, not those that wait for big occasions.

Sometimes I feel inadequate as a mom because I don’t know the “right way” to do things. I don’t make my own gravy. I don’t cut cookies out very well. I clean, but not as well as my mama did.

I am a grown woman and I can’t tie my own shoes. At least, I don’t tie them the way everyone else does – one loop, go around. A frustrated kindergarten teacher gave up and taught me the two-loop method instead. Twenty-eight years later, I still haven’t mastered the “proper way.”

There are days I wish I could research all the information I seem to lack. I would love to take cake decorating, home decorating, home economics, cooking, sewing and other classes. But, I have two kids and a husband. Time is not on my side.

What to do? I’ve had to realize that maybe my way isn’t always wrong – just different. After all, I happen to like canned gravy and instant mashed potatoes. And my way of tying shoes has kept me from tripping over my laces for decades.

For this year, I also resolve to remember that “I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me” – Philippians 4:13.

I think that means that I have to let Christ be in control of my life. If He wants me to do something the “proper way,” He can show me, teach me, inspire me.