An old, tired-looking dog wandered into a woman’s garden. She could tell from looking at him that he had a good home. He followed her inside, down the hall, and promptly fell asleep. Two hours later, he went to the door and she let him out. The next day he came back, resumed his position, and napped for a couple of hours. This went on for a week. Curious, the woman pinned this note to his collar: ‘Every afternoon your dog comes to my house for a nap.’ The next day, the dog showed up with a note that read: ‘He lives at home with ten children – apparently he needs some quiet time. Can I come with him tomorrow?’ If you’re a mother, you can probably relate! Carla Barnhill, author of The Myth of the Perfect Mother, writes: ‘I just can’t do it anymore. I can’t keep trying to be SuperMum. I wasn’t all that good at it to begin with. I’ve tried to be the perfect combination of devoted mum…loving wife…solid Christian…and have failed miserably…But even if I had been able to pull all of that off, I’m not convinced any of us should…we don’t have to be impressive…[or] follow some random rules about what motherhood should look like. Grace means we already matter to the One who matters most, our good, loving, and grace-filled God! So let’s drop our capes, put down our halos, retire our medals, and let ourselves be the sometimes flawed, sometimes awesome mums God made us to be.’ In other words: ‘Try to have a sane estimate of your capabilities.’
