I read over the weekend that Facebook asked many users who were not close to Pakistan if they were all right following the explosion in Lahore.

“Are you okay? It looks like you are in an area affected by The Explosion . . . in the park.  Let friends know that you are safe.”

Whereas part of me wonders who is logging on to American profiles from Pakistan, I am more impressed by a possible consequence of the glitch–it brings us closer to a place far away, and maybe makes us care about people there.

We are not in Pakistan, and yet these people were our brothers and our sisters.  They were celebrating Easter in a park.  Christians who live in Pakistan, spending time with their kids.  To target women and children, that to me is an incomprehensible evil.  Here I am so many miles away and yet I am really hurting for these families.

It’s tempting to feel powerless and scared.

But aren’t we impactful moms?

What does it mean to be an impactful mom?  With God’s grace and mercy, to have a chance to impact kids for the better.  To teach them to forgive by forgiving them.  To ask for forgiveness.  To teach them to fight what’s right by standing for something. To tell them they are loved and cherished when the world may tell them otherwise.  To believe in them and their capacity to affect positive change even after they just punched their sister.  To trust that they can figure things out with our loving guidance.  To pray together.  To reach out to one another. When faced with heartbreak, to be kind.

In response to an act that aims to demoralize, threaten, and annihilate, can we stand up for life?  Even for ourselves and our communities?  Instead of hiding, be proud of who we are–children of God.  Not in a Supermom sense, but proud to let God work in us instead of curling up in a corner.

Because if our goal is to look like Supermom and pride ourselves in that, what do we do when we suck?  When we’re scared or sad? When we make a mistake?  When we just yelled at our kid?  I’ve had strangers come up to me in my excellent mom moments and tell me I am “doing such a great job with the kids.” And I’ve had my kids chant “Iced tea!  Iced tea!” in a supermarket just as two of my esteemed former coworkers came up to greet us.  I am both moms, the one who is excellent and the one who feels like egg salad, broken up and tossed around.  But no matter which instance you observe, I know I make an impact by opening up myself to God, letting Him use me by showing my kids that I am here for them, and I give a damn about them and about the world.  An impactful mom can cry, and she can find joy. And I am so grateful for the opportunity to make an impact!  To let myself be the hands and feet of God, and to ask for forgiveness in the many times it is necessary.  Because God loves us all the time, not just when we are excellent.

And every time we go to a park, I will try to remember Lahore, pray for those families, and thank God for the opportunity to be here with my kids.  Time is fleeting, and it passes often without our appreciation.  We lose our sense of the miraculous in everyday life.  But as my friend says, the miraculous is a normal part of creation.  To be in a park, in nature, and to appreciate that and praise our Creator–that is to see the divine in our impactful life.  To see the butterfly, the ladybug, the dragonfly and to marvel at life when so much chaos and hatred brewing everywhere. . .   To stop and notice the good things in life even as we mourn for our family overseas.  Not to fear but to trust God even as our hearts are broken for these families–that is to be an impactful mom.

Because as Jesus said in John 16:33,

These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.