“Hold Me, Mama.”

There are only so many times I’ll hear those words roll off the lips of my sweet two-year-old. Only so many moments when little hands reach up for the comfort of my arms, tiny feet follow me from room to room, and a precious face presses into mine with pudgy hands clasping my face. “I love your cheeks…” He says. Oh, my precious boy.

What I wouldn’t give to bottle it all up—to pause time.

And yet, I didn’t even realize the last time I changed a diaper. It just… happened. The end of an era slipped right past me, without fanfare or warning.

Motherhood is full of these quiet endings. The last time they need help tying their shoes. The final night they ask for one more lullaby. The last time they reach for you to be held. My heart aches over the lasts…

But as Christian mothers, we are reminded that the passing of time is not a loss—it’s a gift in motion. A gift that carries us, day by day, from season to season under the love of God.

“For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven.” — Ecclesiastes 3:1

Yes, the early years are exhausting to the core, stretching us to our limits. But these moments—messy, sleepy, trying—they are sacred. These times are the very soil in which faith is planted. The embrace of a mother becomes the first experience of Christ’s tender love. A mother’s softness during challenges is an example of God’s mercy.

It’s okay to mourn the passing of the small things. God collects those tears too.

“You number my wanderings; Put my tears into Your bottle; Are they not in your book? —Psalm 56:8

But remember, don’t stop there. Let your heart linger on the gain, not just the loss. You are sowing seeds that will one day bloom in ways you can only imagine. Each moment spent holding, guiding, loving—it’s all work for the Kingdom. You are doing sacred work no matter how mundane, how tireless. You’ve been placed in this position by God with confidence. Rest in that assurance!

Because while the diaper days may be behind you, the mission of motherhood is not.

They still need you. Your faith. Your example. They need your sincere prayers behind closed doors and the whispered ones from beneath your breath in the moments of chaos.

So if you’re feeling like the days are slipping through your fingers like sand, know this;

God is in every grain.

He’s in the giggles and tantrums. In the spilled cereal and the bedtime snuggles. In the hard goodbyes of the little stages and in the sweet hellos to new ones.

“Let us not grow weary in doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.” — Galatians 6:9

So yes, hold them close. For as long as they let you. Cherish. Every. Moment. For you know change is coming. Prepare your heart for the seasons. Give yourself permission to gently grieve, allow your feelings to surface, but don’t carry them with you. Just as the seasons shift, so does life—and each one holds God-given beauty.

The days may be fleeting, the seasons quickly changing, but His faithfulness is forever even from the diaper changes to driver’s ed. He is with you. So trust in Him and believe that the best is yet to come.