The Little Way of Motherhood

When I was confirmed into the Catholic Church, I chose Therese as my saint name, as I was drawn to St. Therese of Lisieux and her spiritual approach of glorifying God and finding holiness through doing small, every day things. One of her most famous quotes, “do little things every day with great love”, sums up the essence of her spirituality that she called “the little way”. Now, as a stay at home mom, I can’t think of a more fitting way to view motherhood than through the lens of “the little way”.

Some days it feels like I’m not doing much. I wake up and make breakfast. Do the dishes and the laundry. Microwave my coffee. Calm a tantrum. Change diapers. Get my girls dressed. Microwave my coffee again. Wipe up a spill and pick up a mess. A mess that I know will be back again before the day is over. A mess that I know I’ll be picking up again tomorrow. Before I know it I’m making lunch. Chauffeuring my girls around to outings and playdates. Sometimes it feels like there is little time for myself. And a lot of this can start to feel like mundane work after a while, especially if we listen to what the world tells us what we should be doing as mothers, or who we should be as mothers. It tells us that we should be something more, something bigger. That being a mother isn’t enough. That we also need to have a successful career and be our own person. Someone else aside from being just a mom. Just a mom. Yes, the world tells us that the sacred vocation of motherhood isn’t good enough. Isn’t big enough.

But if we take a step back and view motherhood as God intended it to be – as an extraordinary vocation that He called us to do, the special gift of raising saints entrusted to us, a way to glorify Him every day through sacrifice and acts of service, we can see how vastly different motherhood is from the world’s perspective.

And if I look at my daily life through the lens of “the little way”, I find purpose in every small thing that I do at home. Yes, even changing diapers can be holy work. I nourish my children with good food. I make sure that they have clean clothes to wear. I keep up with our home so that they can enjoy living and playing in it. I raise them, comfort them, co-regulate them. I take them out so that they can socialize and experience the world and make memories.

And I’m so happy to be just a mom. To be their comfort and their safe space. To keep a home that is their haven and to spend every day in it with them. To savor these moments and years with them that I know I’ll never get back. I’m so grateful for it all. And if I ever start to feel the pull of the world and think that I should do something more, I remember my true purpose and who God called me to be. I remember St. Therese and her Little Way. I remember to do all of these little things, no matter how small, every day with great love. The world wants me to be more, but I’m okay with not being big. In fact, I prefer to be little.

My Favorite Quotes from St. Therese of Lisieux

I understand that if every tiny flower wanted to be a rose, spring would lose its loveliness.

The loveliest masterpiece of the heart of God is the heart of a mother.

Remember that nothing is small in the eyes of God. Do all that you do with love.

True love feeds on sacrifice and becomes more pure and strong the more our natural satisfaction is denied.

You know well enough that Our Lord does not look so much at the greatness of our actions, nor even at their difficulty, but at the love with which we do them.