Hats

Wife. Mother. Friend. Daughter. Sister. Aunt. Employee. Volunteer.

All different hats I wear. I'm sure you wear more than one as well. What I've been thinking about and wondering about, is how do you prioritize them? What hat is the most important to you? Which one can you let slide? Which one if you make it more important helps all the others function smoothly? Are there any hats you need to take off/get rid of?

For me, I think the most important one has to be wife. If I can be a great wife, I think I will automatically be a better mother. And if I'm a great wife and mother, I think I'll be better at everything else I do. Which means I occasionally have to pick being a wife "over" being a mother. I have to put my husband ahead of my son, and in doing so actually show my son just how much I love him. I think loving my son's father is a invaluable gift I can give him, with lasting effects. I heard it put this way before, Our "'till death do us part" commitment is to our husbands. Our children are supposed to leave the home, it is a "temporary" relationship. If we've raised our children correctly, they will be independent, responsible adults who leave the nest. The relationship will and should change. But when the kids are gone, your spouse should still be there (assuming tragedy hasn't struck). So what are you doing to prioritize that hat? Since I'm such a new mom, I haven't had many opportunities yet to put these thoughts into practice, especially since I'm still tied to my son as his food source. But I'm getting excited to think about ways to show Griffin how awesome his dad is and how much his mom is in love with daddy. And I pray that this will help grow Griffin into an amazing husband someday, since I've already started praying for the woman who will become his wife!