Parenting is one of the most exhausting, challenging, wearisome, unappreciated, often lonely, and emotional things you can do as a human.
And that’s just keeping them alive, keeping the house clean and making sure they’re to school on time. Add on top of all of that, the responsibility to catechize our children to love God (Deuteronomy 6:4-5) against a world that is opposed to God.
Proverbs 6:20–22 says,
“My son, keep your father’s commandment,
and forsake not your mother’s teaching.
Bind them on your heart always;
tie them around your neck.
When you walk, they will lead you;
when you lie down, they will watch over you;
and when you awake, they will talk with you.”
The most important thing you can do is to teach your children, not only to be productive people in society, but to love the Lord. I can attest — and I think we all can — that the older we get the smarter we realized our parents were. Your kids will — one day — love your teaching.
Yet it is still easy for mothers to feel discouraged in this ever-changing world, where it is so easy to play the comparison game with all the other moms who seem to have it all together at: the grocery store, at the doctors, or - worst of all - at church.
The truth is we all are struggling to keep our head above water. So, I want to dedicate this article to encourage you to keep going.
As, the author of Hebrews says,
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”
Be encouraged every time you feel like you have failed your job as a parent to know two things.
First, you have a community who is cheering you on
Maybe, you have failed, or maybe you just couldn’t find your teen'
s jersey in the mountain of laundry. Either way the church is a place that — at least should be — cheering you on as a mom, because your job is hard. I mean really hard.
The church is here to partner with you to help shepherd your child to know and love God. We can’t do it without you, so, if no one else will say it, I will.
Keep going mom! I’m cheering for you. I know that you not only will make it through it, but so will your kids, and they will love you all the more for it.
Second, your children have a greater Father who has never let them down
My mom always used to joke, “every kid will need therapy for something, I’m just making sure I know what that ‘something’ is.”
No matter what we do, it’s true that we will fail our children. I know it sounds kind of harsh on mother’s day, but this truth is full of good news.
You will fail, but you have a God who has never failed and took your place on the cross. You are forgiven of even the worst outbursts of anger, mean looks, and hurtful words we say to our kids.
In all reality we are stewards of our kids. Our kids belong to their heavenly Father. They are his, he promises to keep them and to never forsake them.
So, you can take a deep breath and know that it’s not you that holds your kids future in your hands. They have the most loving being in the universe holding them, and their future close to his heart.
