I’m currently in the season of motherhood that involves lots of littles, little hands and little feet, little socks and little jammies, little toys and little plates. And if I’m not careful, I’ll begin to label this season of motherhood as little, insignificant. It feels like a season of waiting instead of doing, a season of staying instead of going. I’m busy, yes, but does the busyness really matter? It’s just dishes and laundry, playtime with too many dolls, and the same bedtime stories repeated over and over.

In the middle of my little life, God spoke a quiet thought to me that has been bouncing around in my head.

What I view as a little season, He views as a sowing season.

Like this moment in motherhood, the sowing season is made up of little things and a great deal of busyness. The sowing season is about focusing all of your energy onto these tiny little seeds that require so much work and attention but without the fruit of the labor that is coming.

In the sowing season, you’re pouring in and pouring in. You’re watering and fertilizing. You’re weeding and plowing. You’re waiting. You can’t go wherever you want, because you’ve got important work to do, but without the sowing season, you’ll never reach the harvest.

My prayer today is that I recognize that this season of motherhood is not a waste, but an investment into the little hearts and lives that have been given to me. The books and the lessons. The discipline and the laughs. The giggles and the potty training. It all matters because this is the time I have to pour as much as I can into my girls.

If you’re in the season of motherhood that feels small and insignificant, know that just because it’s small doesn’t mean it doesn’t matter. You’re sowing into the greatest gifts you’ve been given. One day, sadly, they won’t need us, but today they’re not ready to weather this world without us. So we keep sowing because they are worth every effort.