World's Okayest Mom?

If I asked you to fill in the blank in the following sentence "I am the world's ______est mom," what would you say?

Prettiest?
Smartest?
Nicest?
Coolest?

What about Okayest?  I saw a lady the other day with a shirt on that said, "World's Okayest Mom."  At first I laughed a little and wanted to tell her that I liked her shirt.  I saw the shirt as an honest truth that no one is the World's Best Mom.  There is always some mother out there that is better, right?  And if it's not enough that we have to measure up to real women there are TV women out there that definitely are better moms.  Seriously, what do I have that matches up to June Cleaver and does Carol Brady ever get mad?  Compared to those two and the several awesome real mothers out there in the world, I am sure I wouldn't get the prize for the World's Best Mom.

Or would I?

I thought struck me with such force that I had to share it with my husband and I feel compelled to share it with you now.  This though stopped me from telling this lady that I liked her shirt.  In fact, this thought made me do a 180 and now I don't like the shirt at all.

I am the World's Best Mom.

Guess what?  You are too.

And how are we all the World's Best Mom?  Because you are the best mom for your kids.  I am the best mom for my son.  If I wasn't the best mom for him then he would be in a different family.  God picked me to be his mother.  And if I was hand picked out of the millions of mother's out there in the world to be the mother of my son, then I must be the World's Best Mom to him.  I am fully expecting there to be times in his life where he doesn't really appreciate what I do or my opinion, but there is something about him and something about me that make the match of the two of us the best for us.  We won't always do everything perfect or make all the right choices, but that is not what being the best is really about.  Being the best is about being the best suited for the job.  And I am not asked to be the mother off all the children in the world.  Right now I am asked to just be the mother of my son.  Someday there may be other children that I get to mother, but right now it's just the two of us.  And it's pretty cool.

Why?  Because we are the best fit for each other.  Because in our little world, he is the best son and I am the best mother.  We fit together better than either of us could fit with any other existing mother or son.  We make one awesome team.

I would like to take a moment and acknowledge that there are some mothers who do not treat their children well.  These mothers started out with the potential to be the best mother for their children, but refused the job.  And many times these children are taken away and put into different homes for a shot at finding their own new World's Best Mom (even if it's just a foster mom).

Assuming that none of you are such mothers, I would like to say, give yourself a break sometimes.  Do your best and don't beat yourselves up.  As long as you are striving to do your best, you are your child's World's Best Mom.  Even when they don't agree, it's still true.

So embrace it.  Love it.  Shake off the mediocrity that tells you that you are no good and you cannot be more than the World's Okayest Mom.  Accept your calling.

And be the Best.