So you have thoughts like, that’s not how I wanna do it. I wanna do it this way. But my guess is that there are very few, if any, women that you look at and you think, she’s a bad mom. You’re not thinking that.

You are thinking she loves her kids. She’s trying so hard. She’s doing what she thinks is important and good for her family. If we are not the good moms who are the good moms. It’s a wild question. You clicked on a video about how to be a good mom ’cause you care about that.

My guess is that you learn lots of things. Maybe you listen to podcasts, maybe you read self-help books. Maybe you listen to Father Mike Schmitz, right? I don’t know what you’re doing, but my guess is that you care a lot about your kids and that you want to be a good mom and you are a good mom.

And the Lord knows that the Lord is watching you. Like I just see how you cut the crust off of that peanut butter and jelly sandwich, even though you didn’t feel like it and you thought it was a dumb.

I’m so proud of you for doing that, for putting just a little extra love into that activity. I’m so proud of you for hopping in that minivan and driving those kids to soccer practice, even though you didn’t feel like it.

I’m so proud of you for yelling at your kids and then later apologizing to them. I am so proud of you for worrying and thinking about your kids and their faith life. And how to keep them Catholic. Now, I don’t think the Lord wants us to worry, but he like sees the heart that you’re putting into it. He’s like, I just love that you care so much.

If we are not the good moms who are the good moms, and listen, I’m not gonna even create a story around a woman that I would then label as a bad mom because even then I would coach myself into being like, but I just see why she’s that way and how much she’s trying and whatever, whatever. I would probably find goodness in every mom.

But here’s what I do know for sure because of how the brain works. If you tell yourself consistently, I am a bad mom, and then you feel the feelings of failure, shame, guilt, hopelessness in your body, the way that you will show up from those feelings is not good. That’s how the brain works.

Now it’s a simplification of what’s going on. But you know, it’s true. You know that if you’re driving around thinking I’m a bad mom, and your physiology will show it, your shoulders will be slumped.

You’ll be like, There’ll be like this heaviness. This is where we’re like driving through and getting sugary coffee just to perk ourselves up ’cause we feel so yucky and our bodies, this is when we’re buying things at big box stores that we don’t really need just to feel alive again. And it’s coming from this background, this soundtrack in your mind that’s, I’m a bad mom.

Listen, I’m telling you right now that you’re a good mom, and I want you to look in the mirror in your beautiful eyes and tell yourself that I am a good mom. And if you can’t believe it, if you can’t take it in right now, and that’s okay, you’ve had a lot of years of telling yourself that you’re a bad mom, then I want you to say, I’m learning to believe that I’m a good mom.

And watch how it opens you up. Watch how you stand taller. Watch how you smile more. Watch how you look for more ways to be a good mom. That’s what’s wild. If you believe that you’re a good mom, you’re gonna show up better in your life. We have this fear that if we give it to ourselves, if we say that we’re good moms, that we’re gonna stop trying.

We think beating ourselves up with this thought, I’m a bad mom, gets us. To perform better, but it’s the opposite. Believing that you’re a good mom gives you the freedom ’cause you’re gonna be more relaxed in your body. You’re gonna be calmer, you’re gonna be happier, and you will naturally show up better than if you are wearing the heaviness of the thought. I’m a bad mom. You are a good mom.

And if you’re not sure, I want you to go to adoration. I want you to say, Christ, please tell me the ways that you are proud of me. Please tell me the ways that I am a good mom, and he will tell you, I guarantee it. Because he thinks you’re a good mom.

Now, does that mean that there isn’t room for improvement and there aren’t behaviors that we have that aren’t great? Of course, we’re all a work in progress. None of us are gonna be perfect. We’re humans, we’re sinful. We’re gonna do things that aren’t great.

But the overall picture, my friends, I’m gonna say aloud, for those of you sitting in the back, the overall picture is that you are a good mom. You really, really are. I love you and you are a good mom, and I would like you to walk around telling yourself that. All day and watch how it changes your life.

And again, if you need a bridge there, you’re just gonna go, I’m learning to believe I’m working on believing that I’m a good mom. And even that’s gonna open you up and you’re gonna start feeling a lot lighter.

All right, I’m praying for you. Have a blessed day.