A small group of women were at our grief group this week. The conversation centered on the sense of depression one woman expressed in relation to her grief. She acknowledged she had often felt this depression before her mother died and now it seemed even more intense. She sees a psychiatrist and is on medication but the depression is always there. "I just want to stay home and stay in bed...." She also expressed a sense of not being a good mother because she doesn't take her son to multiple activities---- "like the other women at work tell me I should do...I should give him a chance to try things and let him choose....He comes to the children's group here at church and sings in the children's choir."
Another young mother identified similar issues. "I feel like I'm not doing enough activity for my son....Other mothers do so much more. I wonder how they do it....I feel like I'm not a good mother."
Comparing ourselves to others, feeling like we don't measure up seems to be part of the "human condition." We all seem to do it even though at some level we know other people do the same thing...and may feel they don't measure up to us in some way.
At another level we know we "should" understand that we measure up in God's eyes. He tells us who we are. We are loved and cherished and belong to Him.. We are his children and He loves us more than we love our own children. He knows our struggles---He feels our sadness. He takes our hand. But when depression and grief and guilt surround us, it is very difficult to hold on to the promise of His love.
How do we that---how do we hold on to that promise? We live into it. We pray every day for the peace that comes with that promise. We pray for the wholeness that comes with that promise.
Every day He tells us who we are.
Blessings-Penny
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