Mother’s Day has come and gone and I am still trying to pull together my thoughts on the day. Or perhaps I should say, the significance of the day.

My life sits sandwiched between two generations of mothers. I am blessed to yet have my mom with me. She is truly the best mom I could ever have had. She is my best friend and more so, a beautiful example of strength, courage, faith, and perseverance.

Throughout her life, mom has held onto her faith in Jesus through good days and hard times. Her quiet yet strong will has shown me how to move forward in life, moment by moment, trusting the Lord to go before me.

She is generous, always putting others before herself. Her sense of humor is priceless as she can brighten up a day with a funny story or quip.

On the other side of me, are two women in the throes of motherhood. They are facing the challenges of raising children in the midst of an ever changing world. They have hard questions, face their doubts, and are working diligently to make homes and families on a foundation of faith and love.

And here’s me – in the middle. Still learning while at the same time hoping to live by example. I am kind of surprised to find myself here. OK, the right word would truly be, shocked.

I am shocked to be in the middle as I wonder -  how did I even get here? It happened in the blink of an eye.

The middle can be thought of as the area between here and there. A central point.

Here is what I have come to discover as I have been processing Mother’s Day …

We are all in the middle of something in life. But may we not be in a rush to get from here to there or we will miss the blessing God has for us right where we are. In the middle.

I’m currently reading The Middle Matters by Lisa-Jo Baker, which will be coming out July 23rd. The advanced reader copy arrived on Saturday, which also happened to be smack in the middle of all my thoughts on Mother’s Day. Somehow I don’t think it was a coincidence and when I read her words in the introduction, I knew it wasn’t:

“The middle is the marrow. The glorious ordinary of your life that utterly exhausts you but that you might have finally started to understand in ways you didn’t at the beginning. Listen, I’m not asking you to seize the day here; I’m just asking you to actually see it. Even if just out of the corner of one eye. The middle is worth remembering while you are actually living it, because you won’t pass this way again.” (Lisa-Jo Baker)

I’m grateful for my middle. God has positioned me here because He knew I still had much to learn from my mom, while I yet need to pour out. God has placed me in the middle of my story. Not the beginning, when I was young and unsure of who I was. Not at the end, on that day when I will be all He ever meant for me to be.

No, He has placed me in the middle. The place where my life is being lived out and the story is yet being told for all my family to see.

“The middle is the gift you didn’t know you were right in the middle of, friend.” (Lisa-Jo Baker)

This middle I am in is absolutely glorious and heart wrenching at times. It’s hilariously funny, where we laugh till our sides hurt. And it’s painful till our sides hurt from crying.

The middle is where I find life, the very life God has planned for me. I want to relish the moments and savor the time, because I will only pass this way once.

And so Mom, today:

“Her children stand and bless her.”
(Proverbs 31:28, NLT)

And deep in my heart, I know it is me who is blessed to be in the middle!

But you can pre-order it now HERE.