Kristin Fields Chadwick

This mom is seasoned, Beth Vogt…she has four kids (I am not remembering totally) most in their 20s and then an 8 year old. Anyway her topic was “Motherhood: Perfection Not Required.” Here is one of her bullet points that I will elaborate on:
1. Children reveal our strengths and our weaknesses.
In my life as a mom, I have definitely realized my weaknesses- such as being impatient, boring, not crafty, selfishness. A list could go on and on, but I don’t want to focus too much on the negative side. Although there was one interesting weakness that hit close to home that I never realized clearly until today as Beth Vogt spoke of her own struggle. Anger. Many of you who know me would say, really??! But yes, anger. I get so frustrated sometimes. It usually happens because of lack of sleep or emotionally being unstable but the anger comes out only towards my sweet little girl. Ms. Vogt reminisced of a time she can remember so clearly where her words were too harsh, cruel, and mean in a moment of weakness to her then three year old boy. I, too, unfortunately, can pinpoint a time like that with Copeland, where anger ruled over my heart and any sense of sanity. The look you see on your child’s face as you have scared them is one that should never be brought upon them. Their precious hearts pierced with an arrow thrown by your own mothering hand. Wow…it touched me deep within my spirit as a mom as I heard her explain that she had to work through her anger. Me, angry?! At what?! I don’t know the answer to that but I know it is there deep inside of me. It makes me sad. But there is also hope because of my belief in what Jesus did for me…”His Grace is sufficient for me” 2 cor. 12:9…

What I learned from this talk is yes, I do have an underlying issue of anger that I need to resolve and dig deeper. My dad and mom have both said in the wise counsel that anger is a secondary emotion of fear. So, I need to figure out what I am so afraid of. Also, God has given me many things to be thankful for in how I am the best mommy for Copeland. I have many strengths as well.

The other thing I learned from this talk is its okay to be imperfect at mothering. Copeland (and Ryker and other future children of the Chadwick household) will hopefully learn that they don’t have to be perfect. That we love them, imperfectly. As Ms. Vogt said, “Our children don’t want perfect mommy’s.” Of course not! Then you would grow up thinking you could never fail and how miserable is that! Anyway, thought I would share what I learned today from my MOPS day.