One of my dear mom friends texted me a few days ago:

Sorry I haven’t been a good friend lately. It’s been a tough season. I know it’s been tough for you too. . .

I wish I could say her apologetic tone was unfamiliar.

It’s a song my friends and I often sing as we navigate this intense season of parenting littles.

What I told my dear friend is what I want to tell so many of my mom friends.  It’s what I want them to tell me:

Oh sweet friend, don’t you dare own that.

You are incredibly dear to me and the thing about deep relationships–you pick up where you leave off and you bear with one another in tough and all-consuming seasons.

You and I are both in agreement about that, and that’s why we can be close friends with that mutual understanding. . .

I hope you don’t own any friend guilt.

God’s calling on your life must take precedence always. That’s to be a wife and mama.

I miss you. I do very much, and I wish we could do more one-on-one activities.

But I absolutely see it for what it is: just a season.

We are all in the thick of it. And the thick of it looks very different for everyone.

I don’t take it personally. I’m juggling my calling, too, in a different way.

Sometimes I feel ridiculously spread thin. I suspect you can relate.

We just need to hold tight during these intense younger years, continuing to encourage and pour into one another, and spending time where we can.

But it will get better.

It will.

It’s just a phase.

And what can we say if it’s God’s calling?

There’s grace for that.

Truly, what can we say if this season is God’s calling?

There’s grace for this.

God’s grace, sweetly covering us as He pairs us with friends who mutually understand this fleeting chapter where motherhood has consumed us.

I love you, mom friend.