"The hardest thing you will ever do" - Parenting

Parenting.  People say it's one of the hardest jobs in the world and that raising kids is the hardest thing you will ever do.  Why is that?  What makes it so hard?

First we need to understand the difference between complicated and hard.  Complicated is something like crochet or knitting. There are technical things involved and a lot of little steps.  There are special skills to learn.  However, once you get past the complications, it is very easy and doesn't take much effort.

Something that is hard, doesn't have to be complicated it all.  In fact, it can be incredibly simple. Something like serving others.  It's not complicated.  You just do it!  But it can be so hard.  It's emotionally tolling at times to remember that there are others out there and it can be a sacrifice to your own physical well being.

Being a good parent is very much like that.  It's not complex or complicated.  It's actually quite simple: put your children before yourself.  Simple, right?  Easy?  Not at all.

It goes so much against our natural human selves to be selfless.  Our body says to sleep, eat, put your feet up, read more of your book and relax.  Thankfully, there is something fighting against that limited body that can't see the eternities because it can't see beyond itself - our spirit.

Our spirits are always with our babies.  Are they fed? Are they clean? Rested? Developing and learning properly? Entertained? Happy? Loved?  We find ourselves in a constant state of concern for our babies and our spirits are battling our imperfect mortal bodies and it's grueling and exhausting and just so hard.

But those days that our spirits see victory over our imperfections more often than they see defeat are the days that our hearts are filled with more satisfaction than any earthly accomplishment we can find.  In those moments, this imperfect exhausting messing life is completely perfect because we are living it for our little ones rather than for ourselves.