Maybe you have a blended family, and your kids are only with you some of the time. Then pray for the “other” mom to water the seeds you plant in your children.
Maybe you’re a single mom in need of spiritual support. Then find hope and support in Psalm 68, where the Lord is described as “a father to the fatherless”. There’s no better partner you could hope to have, imparting His Spirit and comfort to those who don’t have a dad.
Maybe you’re a working mom, and you feel a little guilty about the limited time you have with your children. Then listen to the words of author Linda Weber, whose mother worked outside the home:
Mom worked at outside jobs. She had to. But Mom understood the importance of giving her best efforst to what was most important—her children. . . . Though Mom didn’t give us a high standard of living, she gave us a high standard of life.
God will help you become godly. A woman of God is intimately connected to her Savior. A woman of God can love and give from the overflowing cup God has filled.
Be intentional about showing your children what it means to love God and respect His Word. Trust that He can make you a better parent. Fight the tendency to speed up the parenting process. If you’re too focused on completing the task, you may miss out on both the moments and the meaning of motherhood.
Our kids don’t have a “pause” button; we can’t put them on hold while we figure out what’s really important in life. As Helen Young reminds us of this in Children Won’t Wait:
There will be a time when there will be no
slamming of doors
No toys on the stairs, no childhood quarrels, no
fingerprints on the wallpaper.
Then may I look back with joy and not regret.
God, give me the wisdom to see that today is my
day with my children.
That there is no unimportant moment in their lives.
May I know that no other career is so precious,
No other work so rewarding,
No other task so urgent.
May I not defer it nor neglect it,
But by the Spirit accept it gladly, joyously, and by
Thy grace realize
That the time is short and my time is now,
For children won’t wait.
Being a mother is not just about being chief cook, taxi driver, housekeeper, dog-walker, kisser of boo-boos, and bandager of knees and elbows. It’s about investing yourself in your relationship with God and passing that on to your sons and daughters. Your children need to know how special they are to you—more important than any possession or promotion. You are the vital link in the chain of faith which passes down from generation to generation.
Right now, today, you are choosing to give them what they need to trust God, to venture out on their own, and to allow God to write His story in their lives.
Choose your children.
It’s a choice you’ll never regret. Because a hundred years from now, when you’ve gone to be with Jesus, your mother’s heart will still be beating in the hearts of children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren who love and serve the Lord.