Where did they go?

The lioness is fierce. Like mama bears they fight to the death to protect their cubs.

Not only would they die without hesitation, they also live for their cubs.

Motherhood, and raising their cubs is enough. In the course of their work they provide for them. They teach them, train and correct them and love them.

When I became a mother I knew I would be a lioness.

A lioness doesn't go looking for conflict. She feels no need to squabble and waste energy in such pursuits. She lives her life, tends her cubs.

My cubs are grown now, with cubs of their own. They are without a doubt my pride and still to this very day my responsibility. Motherhood doesn't expire when they become adults. It changes, of course, my role but my duty as their mother does not change. I will always put their needs before mine. I will always work to be available, and to be a source and resource. They will never not need me in some capacity.

I watch young mothers today besieged by information, opinions, comparisons and standards. I'm so thankful I didn't have those influences chipping away at my confidence. It's too much.

Asking for advice from people you know, love and respect who have a history of raising kids well is one thing. Videos, and blogs, even this one! can become overwhelming. Information overload.

I don't know if I was foolish or wise but I rarely ever doubted my own course out loud. I took my concerns to my husband whose counsel I trusted (why would I marry someone I couldn't rely on to help me parent our cubs?) and I took them to Jesus.

I read a handful of books early on that helped me form and frame the principles that would guide me. And sometimes, I course corrected, when it was needed.

I stayed at home until my divorce, then went to work. I loved my career. I don't begrudge anyone following their dreams and goals. But I left it without hesitation the moment I could return home. I poured myself into my children. I loved being their mother. running our home was my career. Homeschooling was my career. And along the way I started and ran a successful business. Still nothing came before the children. Life is long, and I've achieved so man of my personal goals and dreams along the way.

I learned, reading a book on essentialism, that a priority is a singular expression. If you have multiple missions vying for attention, then there is no priority. That doesn't mean that you can't do and manage many things, it means only one mission can be the priority. Nothing can take precedence over the responsibility of my motherhood.

There's an old Conway Twitty song that echoes in my spirit often. The chorus says, "That's my job. That's what I do. Everything I do is because of you, to keep you safe with me. That's my job you see."

Life can feel anxious. Predators seen and unseen, stalk us. It happens so unassumingly. Trying to be everything to everyone, trying to keep up with the IG and social media optics. Trying to volunteer, be a part of the mom cliques, hit all the marks. Those good things, can distract us from best things. It can go from being fun and optional to a threat without even realizing it.

When your priority is clearly defined. When all else falls away if it opposes it, you find your roar.

You learn to listen to your God-given instincts. You were created to be the mother to your cubs, You possess all you need, you only have to discover it. Trust it. Change course when necessary and move on.

There are simply too many voices plaguing mothers. Too many opinions about your children, about you. A lioness doesn't allow anyone else to define her. She knows who she is. She doesn't seek validation at every turn. And she doesn't need a single soul to tell her how to raise her own cubs.

Before I close up this train of thought. Consider the cubs. When they sense danger they run to their mother. They do not doubt her. They find complete security near her. She is not waiting for a group of 3000 strangers from a Facebook group to weigh in on a decision or opinion before she makes it.

Cubs sense insecurity and react accordingly.

It's okay if you make mistakes. Few are life and death. Don't react, learn. Learn and in doing so you will learn to trust yourself. As you find your confidence, a lioness will emerge and that is who you are meant to be. Love, Robin