You Are Seen, Even on Hard Days

Today is Mother's Day, and here's the thing nobody puts on the greeting cards: some years, this day hits funny. Maybe you're running on four hours of sleep and someone already spilled orange juice on the outfit you laid out last night. Maybe you're missing a mom you've lost, or longing for a relationship that's complicated, or just quietly wondering if any of this invisible work you do actually matters. You are not imagining it — the invisible work is enormous. The packed lunches, the 2am fevers, the ten-second pep talks you give yourself in the bathroom mirror before you go back out there. But here's what Hagar figured out in the middle of a desert when she was exhausted and alone and sure nobody noticed: God sees. Not the highlight reel. Not the Instagram version. You — the actual, tired, trying-her-best you. He has always seen you. That has never once stopped being true. Happy Mother's Day, sweet friend.