When my little girl was a few months old, I decided to start a journal of devotions and reflections for her about her early years. The entries were intermittent, as one would expect. As a new and single mom at the time, writing was grabbed sporadically between feedings, naps and playdates. But I was determined to capture bits of the moments as they happened. Here is the entry from the time of our first Mother’s Day:
My most beautiful K,
You grow more beautiful every day. How I love you. Decisions daily, concerning you take up my thoughts. I confess these thoughts crowd out my prayers for you. But God is faithful and daily He reminds me through circumstances that He wants my prayers and thoughts and worries. Daily He strengthens me. And I am grateful to my God. It is the night before my first official Mother’s Day and we have had an excellent day. What is an excellent day, you might ask?
Well, we had nowhere to go and the sun was shining; the sky was blue. And you were the joy of my morning (Thank you, Lord) as I played with you in bed first thing.
We (or I) got us together and out the door for a morning walk. You had barley and prunes for breakfast and lots of crawling, trying to stand and other busy-ness!
I packed my Bible, journal and “Parenting” magazines in the stroller, covered you with sunblock and your sun hat and off we went. You actually fell asleep for the first time long enough for me to sit and read and write under a shady spot at the park. I read Psalm 27. I wrote and was grateful for that time to be renewed.
You woke up and watched the kids play before we headed back.
I went on to write more details about the day, visits from friends, and dinner details. But this moment, and the beauty of the beginning of motherhood brought with it a promise. The promise to love, this one baby girl:
…I just love our time together. You are challenging me as you grow. You have a strong will, no doubt. But you will always be my Baby Girl. I love you, always.
And isn’t Love the actual keeping the promise to love, when it is hard? I think of His love for me and cling to the promise of His everlasting Love which holds me. Motherhood is a promise after all, to persevere in love. As is marriage, friendship and all of these relationships God gifts us. Each one is a continuation of His Love for us, if we let it be.
This post is shared for our Random Journal Day– a time when we dig into our closets and find something to share from our journal archives. It can be words, doodles, scribbles, or art. If you journaled it, we would love to see it! We meet up the first Friday (and all weekend) of the month. The link goes live at 12:05 AM and stays until Monday! Hope you will join us! For the May RJD Link: Click Here
Linking with Bonnie, and Lyli , Barbie and Create with Joy!
Enthusiastically, Dawn 
13 responses to “The Hope and Promise of Motherhood (A Mother’s Journal)”
Beautiful 🙂 Thank you for sharing your Wealth of Inspiration! Blessings~
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This is so beautiful Dawn. I love you and your mother-heart.
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What an awesome idea, Dawn! I’m sure your daughter will treasure it. Maybe she already is. 🙂
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Dawn,
What a great idea …and gift to give your daughter and yourself…always love reading back on old journal entries because it reminds me of God’s faithfulness…Thank you 🙂
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Aw, this is so sweet! I journaled some when my daughters were little. Some I might let them read some day, but some I should probably keep to myself. ha. I think you can definitely share this in full with your daughter though. Thanks for sharing it with us!
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So lovely.
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Praying for your health, Denise!
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Such precious thoughts from a young mother to her sweet baby girl. Someday she will treasure these words. God is faithful. He will answer your prayers on her behalf.
Thank you for giving us the opportunity to glimpse into those “precious moments”.
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Ah, those early mama-years. The moments you have with God and her and writing all in one. So sweet to see them all intersect in one giant love for your your daughter (and a very strong sense that you knew who she was even when she was tiny–that’s what mamas know!). Thank you for this.
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I love this, the tenderness and vulnerability. I had no idea before I became a mom how much it would render my heart…It’s scary. I know one day Michael is just going to crush my heart when he asserts his independence and I tend to overmother him, trying to protect myself from that happening, which will probably only make it all the much more worse when it does…But the joy, the overwhelming love that beats for him–I wouldn’t trade it for anything else in the world! Praying daily for you two ❤
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Dawn- I love how you wrote the journal entry to her…it is a treasure to have a mom who prays for us, writes to us and most of all loves us even when it’s hard.
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What a beautiful journal entry! “And isn’t Love the actual keeping the promise to love, when it is hard?” So, so true. Relationships are easy when everything is going smoothly!
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I love the journaled in you. You have so much history and testimony to share with others. Blessings my friend!
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