A Devotional to Use at Home or Church

Motherhood is a calling that tests your body, mind, and spirit. When my friend Erin and I became mothers, we felt that challenge acutely. We were both desiring connection and bogged down by the challenges (and sleep deprivation) of the newborn stage. We both longed for a devotional founded in the rich Lutheran theology we knew and loved, but couldn’t find one.

We searched for words of grace. We wanted to know we weren’t alone. We needed the stories and prayers of others.

A few years later, Erin and I begin to dream about writing our own devotional, the one we hoped to grab from our shelves during those days of endless feedings, naps, and changing diapers. We dreamed of a book that meets moms in the thick of raising their kids, that doesn’t shy away from the hard and lonely, and that doesn’t make moms feel like they’re not doing enough. We wanted a book that helps them see they are already deeply loved by God.

We wrote The Beauty of Motherhood: Grace-Filled Devotions for the Early Years to provide young moms with prayers, blessings, and stories of real moms raising their children. We wrote this book as a tangible means of grace for whoever opened its pages.

Below is an excerpt from the devotion “The Moon at 3 AM.”

An Excerpt from The Beauty of Motherhood

As mothers with babies, we know what it is to be awake at night. Over and over again, our babies need us to feed and change them. Some nights babies just don’t want to sleep. I remember one particularly rough night of sleep with Charlotte. After days of disrupted sleep, my own tears fell in a cry of desperation, “Please, Charlotte, just go to sleep.”

Around 3 a.m., I placed her in the car seat, pulled out of the garage, and drove our town streets. I passed an open garage where a group of men worked on a car, and some houses with lights glowing in windows. Otherwise, I felt like the only one awake with my daughter—who at least wasn’t crying, but still had eyes wide awake. As I drove, I remembered my final night serving as a Peace Corps Volunteer in The Gambia. Sitting with the local women, one of the young girls turned to me. “You see this moon. It is the same moon that will shine on you when you’re back home in the states. Look at the moon and remember us.” Together we gazed up, mesmerized by the light. I studied the moon taking in its shape and contours, the way the light filled the African sky. The women seated with me had become family, and even though I’d be leaving, her words and the moon remained.

Driving with Charlotte that night, as I left town and entered the country, I saw the full, honey-colored moon. Rising above the corn fields, the same moon I saw in Africa shone before me on my rural Missouri country road. In my moment of despair at the lack of sleep in our home, the moon reminded me that even in my sleeplessness, I wasn’t alone. The same moon that covered my baby and I driving at 3 a.m. was the same moon watching over other parents. In houses, streets, states, and countries away, others were awake.

It’s this same moon and the same God who whispers to you as you whisper to your babies: I am with you. This same moon shines for us all. Seeing the moon drew me to remember not only God’s creation and light, but others who were awake at this time. I thought about people who were sick or friends with a new medical diagnosis who might be awake worrying. I gave thanks for health care workers spending the night caring for patients. I remembered others with babies. As I continued to drive, my tears turned to prayers, and my frustration transformed to peace, as I gave thanks for all the people for whom the moon brought light.

Perhaps you’re experiencing the moon at 3 a.m. You may know what it’s like to walk your halls cuddling a newborn, or rocking your baby battling a fever, forging through a series of late-night cluster feedings, or waking to the screams of your toddler from a nightmare. The moon shines for you, too.

The moon offers light and hope to you in the darkness. Under the light of the moon amidst a sleepless night, God speaks to us: You are not alone, you are not alone, you are not alone.

How to Use This Book in Church

The Beauty of Motherhood makes a great gift. It can be a baptism gift to encourage new moms in congregations. It can also be given as a welcome present for new member mamas of young children. Grandparents may be interested in buying devotionals to share with their daughters or daughters-in-law to encourage them in their faith and mothering.

The book can also be useful for communities. Here are a few ways that congregations can use the book for faith formation and for connecting mothers:

• Sharing across communities: Area churches can gather virtually or in person over a few sessions to read excerpts and share together. Time can be set aside for journaling, sharing in small groups, and prayer.
• One-day retreat: Host a one-day parents retreat to reflect on seasons and milestones of parenting.
• Multi-week book study: Mom’s groups can read the book on their own and gather weekly or monthly to share what devotions resonated with them.
• Connecting newcomers: Gift to new parents or new members with kids and provide an accompanying list with a few names of other mothers in the congregation (with their consent) with whom they can connect.
• Book talk: Invite the authors to offer a reading and facilitate conversation.
• Intergenerational gathering: Invite parents and caregivers to share stories of motherhood to connect seasoned and new moms. A few devotions can be read as conversation starters.

However you decide to use The Beauty of Motherhood in your congregation, we pray it will be a fruitful resource for helping readers connect with God and one another.

Featured photo is by Dani Elgas