I am not Serene

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I have heard this comment and its variation – “If Serene can do it, so can I!” – uttered a few times too many and it makes me rather uncomfortable.

It seems to imply that I am some sort of superhuman creature and therefore mere mortals should not be expected to emulate me and the other extreme is that since I am truly human than one should definitely be able to do what I do and more!

Both are inaccurate.

One is defeatist – since I am not her, please don’t expect the same of me. The other is defiant – anything she can do I can do better!

Both are unproductive.

Building Up Moms was set up to encourage fellow stay-at-home moms, especially young moms who need more support. It allows me to share what I have learnt – from childbirth to homeschooling to discipline issues – all part and parcel of a mom’s life.

I do not claim to know everything. In fact I am always learning something new – like how on earth am I to wean a 20mth old nursing toddler from nursing to sleep?! Never had to do that before. But I digress 🙂

Setting it up was what the Lord laid upon my heart way back in 2006. It is not meant to put me up on a pedestal so that you can feel terrible that you can’t do what I do or to push you to do more than what I do.

You are not called to live my life, nor I yours. We all have our own cross to carry, our own flesh to deny and conquer. So please do not think you have to do what I do nor do you have to compete with me to do better than what I do.

I know there are lots of women* out there who do more than I do. And they have as many or more children than I do. I spend my time marvelling and learning from them. But, I do not aspire to be them. I am not called to live their lives. Besides, I do not know what their lives are really like. I only know snippets of their lives.

Just like I always say to those who tend to gush when they hear that we have 7 children, homeschool them and have no maid (a standard Singaporean fixture). My response always is – you don’t live with me.

When you see me outside with my family, I am usually calm – you would be too if the mess made by your children doesn’t need to be cleaned up by you 🙂 You don’t see or hear (Lord help me on this one!) me losing my cool with the children, getting exasperated and wanting to clobber them on their heads 😀

Again I say, please don’t feel that you have to do what I do. I have learnt that God gives each of us grace to do what we are called to do. Yes, I do work hard but there is also His grace which has been poured abundantly upon my life so that I can do all that He has asked me to do. You know, that’s where my superpowers come into play 🙂

Oops, I guess it’s true that I am superhuman afterall! 😛

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