Daily Disciplines That Bring Joy Back to Motherhood

If you want to bring joy back to your motherhood, you’re going to have to get good at doing what most mothers won’t: showing up consistently, even when you don’t feel like it.

The joy of motherhood doesn’t just fall apart because of big crises. It unravels in the small, ordinary refusals of discipline—when we sleep in instead of getting up to spend time in the Word, when we numb out on our phones instead of engaging with our children, when we drift through the day instead of disciplining ourselves in what will actually nourish our minds and bodies.

That’s the real thief of joy in motherhood. Not your circumstances. Not your husband. Not even your children. But your own inconsistency.

And that’s why today we’re talking about the daily disciplines that bring joy back to motherhood. Because I can tell you this—joy doesn’t return by accident. It returns when you choose the habits that breathe life into your soul and your home—even when you don’t feel like it.

So today, I want to start by giving you the three foundational pieces that lay the groundwork for everything else—these are the prerequisites that make the daily disciplines actually work. Once we have these in place, I’ll walk you through the specific daily disciplines that bring joy back to motherhood, even on the hardest days.

Laying the Foundation for Joyful Motherhood

I’m a mother of three—all four and under. I wake up at 4 a.m. I work out. I read my Bible. I pour into this work and coach hundreds of women every single week on how they can joyfully serve their homes.

That may sound shocking—especially if you’re barely surviving right now. But here’s the truth: it isn’t because I’m superhuman. I’ve just trained myself to do the hard thing even when I don’t feel like it. And then, when life gets really crazy, I’ve built systems and rhythms that carry me through the storm so life doesn’t just completely unravel before my eyes.

Because here’s the thing—there are seasons when you feel on top of the world: your energy is high, you’re motivated, you look and feel your best. But there are also seasons of funk—postpartum, hormonal dips, low motivation—and if you don’t have systems, you will crumble in those seasons.

Ecclesiastes 3:1 reminds us, “For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven.” If you don’t have systems of discipline, you’ll crumble in those tougher seasons. But if you do, you’ll find that peace is not dependent on how you feel.

The Rhythm of Rest

The first daily discipline is to develop a rhythm of rest. I’m starting off with rest because we don’t have an infinite supply of discipline. Even Jesus, during His ministry on earth, “would withdraw to desolate places and pray” (Luke 5:16). If Christ Himself modeled rhythms of work and rest, so must we.

So I build rest into every layer of my life—monthly, weekly, and daily—and it’s a frequent reminder that rest is a gift from the Lord.

• Monthly: One rest week. No heavy projects, no filming, no major homemaking projects. Just catch-up tasks, fun creative work, and a long date with my husband.
• Weekly: Three days of grind, 2–3 buffer days, 1–2 rest days.
• Daily: Rising early to feed my soul with God’s Word and exercise before serving my family.

Psalm 63:1 says, “O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you… My flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.” This is how I feel when I don’t spend time in the Word.

When we weave rest into our rhythm, daily disciplines become sustainable. But even with rest, there are seasons when life feels like it’s spinning out of control—postpartum nights, illness, or exhaustion. That’s when I rely on something my husband and I jokingly call the Baseline Protocol.

The Baseline Protocol

The next part of the foundation is something I call the Baseline Protocol. This is a homemaking productivity system where you identify the non-negotiable tasks that keep your household running at its minimum functional level and then build in simplified versions of those tasks for high-stress or high-demand seasons.

Think of it as the foundation of your home: the things that, if left undone, would cause chaos quickly.

Step 1: Identify Your Baseline Tasks

• Dishes
• Laundry
• Meals
• Trash
• Tidying shared spaces

Step 2: Build in Simplifications for Stressful Seasons

• Dishes → Use paper plates, cups, and utensils.
• Laundry → Limit wardrobe to easy-wash staples.
• Meals → Stock freezer meals, buy rotisserie chickens, keep a 15-minute meal list.
• Trash → Double-bag trash cans.
• Tidying → Use 5-minute reset baskets in each room.

Step 3: Use It Like a Switch

• Calm seasons: Function above baseline.
• Stressful seasons: Switch into Baseline Protocol.

The Baseline Protocol is how you remain faithful in small things (Luke 16:10) when you don’t have the energy for big things.

Matching Work to Energy

The third foundational principle for bringing joy back to motherhood is matching your work to your energy.

As women, we have natural cycles that impact motivation and focus. On high-energy days, schedule important tasks. On low-energy days, focus on baseline protocol tasks.

For those who are postpartum, pregnant, or not cycling, energy patterns may feel unpredictable. In these seasons, baseline protocols and simplified routines are essential.

By aligning your work with your energy, you create a rhythm that supports consistency, protects your joy, and honors God’s call to care for your household.

Daily Disciplines That Bring Joy Back to Motherhood

Here are the habits that bring joy back to motherhood:

1. Wake Up Early

Proverbs 31:15 says, “She rises while it is yet night and provides food for her household.”

2. Find Motivators & Community

Hebrews 10:24 reminds us to “stir up one another to love and good works.”

3. Always Look Your Best

1 Corinthians 6:19–20: “You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.”

4. Keep Jesus at the Center

Colossians 3:23: “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men.”

5. Intentionally Plan Your Days

1 Corinthians 14:40 reminds us that God’s character is orderly.

6. Just Have Fun

Embrace joyful chaos. Laugh, play, and romanticize little moments.

7. Make Every Day Special

Mark ordinary days with small acts of joy, traditions, and rhythms.

Consistency Over Perfection

Motherhood doesn’t require perfection—it requires consistency. And consistency comes from daily disciplines, rooted in Christ, carried out with community, and sustained by rhythms of rest and joy.

If you’re ready to take the next step and see how to build these rhythms in your own home, I’d love to invite you to my free workshop. In it, I walk you through the exact process I used to move from just surviving to creating a peaceful, joyful home—even when my circumstances didn’t change.