When Love Shows Up Quietly
Motherhood , Advent Peace, and the chalkbord they always see:
There’s this strange little season of motherhood I’m in right now, and most days I’m still trying to figure out what to do with it. My boys are older, busy, and drifting through life in their own rhythms. Half the time our whole interaction in the morning is just them passing through the kitchen with a grunt that I think is supposed to be “bye.”
But even in these rushed, quiet mornings, there are things they notice things they probably won’t admit they notice. Like the little chalkboard by the back door, I know they see it as they walk out. I know their eyes catch it, even if just for a second. That tiny reminder: “I love my boys.” It’s simple, a little cheesy, but it’s my quiet way of speaking when there isn’t time for words.
And then there are nights when they walk in, drop their stuff, and head straight upstairs to shower without saying much. No big conversations, no long stories just footsteps and door clicks. And somehow, those sounds have become part of my peace.
I still knock on their doors sometimes just to “annoy” them. They pretend I’m interrupting the most important thing in the world, but we all know I’m really just checking in. My “Hey, I’m here.” My “Don’t forget you’re loved.” My “I’m your mom, and I’m not going anywhere.”
Motherhood feels quieter now not in a sad way, just in a deeper way. The love is less about big moments and more about presence. The kitchen light on before sunrise. The chalkboard message. The knock on a door. The sound of them coming home. These are the small, ordinary places I feel God reminding me that quiet love is still love… sometimes even louder.
This Christmas, as I reflect on the first week of Advent, it isn’t loud or dramatic. It’s about quiet arrivals. God slipping into the world in the stillness. Peace over noise.
That’s where I’m trying to live right now. In the quiet. In the space where my boys may not need me the way they used to, but they still need to know I’m here. Steady. Rooted. Loving them in every unnoticed moment.
Talk less. Show up more. Let love speak even when the words don’t.