You’ve Got the Wrong Mom

Last Updated on October 10, 2019

“You’ve got the wrong Buzz! You’ve got the wrong Buzz! YOU’VE – GOT – THE – WRONG – BUZZ!”

I picture Buzz Lightyear in Toy Story 2, stuck in a box on the shelf at Al’s Toy Barn, pounding his fists and desperately calling to his friends riding away in a Barbie car with the impostor.

In reality, I wonder if that’s what my prayer sounds like at times. “God, you’ve got the wrong mom! YOU’VE GOT THE WRONG MOM! I am not the mom for this.” I don’t know how many times I’ve said or thought it – too many, though.

Of course, in the movie it really was the wrong Buzz. But in my family, since these kids are all mine (even the ones who came by adoption with difficult histories), I have to believe I am the right mom for them, and they are the right kids for me. Although I am tempted to send them out for someone else to rear, I know that’s not a viable option. So when I say, “You’ve got the wrong mom,” what am I really saying?

Honestly, it’s my version of a temper tantrum: I don’t like it! No, I don’t want to! You can’t make me! I can’t do it! Being a mom is too hard! I didn’t sign up for this!

In other words, sometimes life is hard, and I have to endure or persevere through circumstances that are uncomfortable. And therein lies the truth.

James 1:2 says, “Count it all joy, my brothers and sisters, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing” (ESV).

And Romans 5:3-5 says, “we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us” (ESV).

And God told the Apostle Paul, who asked for a physical difficulty to be relieved, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Paul responded, “For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12:9, 10, ESV).

Some mom days are really hard. Some children are really challenging. But our difficulties have purpose – to mature us in faith, endurance, character, hope, love, and trust in God’s strength.

With God’s guidance and our submission, at the end of each day, we can confidently say, “I am the right mom, and I am becoming the right mom!”