Mothering – Is It Really That Difficult?

So you’ve had your first baby. You’ve gone through nine months of anticipating this sweet little person and then went through hours of pain and agony to meet the child and all they can do is cry. Maybe you join them? Maybe you sit there in your sleep deprived state and wonder how you will raise this child now that they are here. You skip on down the road and the days pass and the pain of childbirth and sleepless nights dim as the child grows and grows. I have always found every stage of the children’s lives as exciting as the one before. Each step taken and milestone met seems to be a victory and that just makes you want to shout to the world that this child is a genius! Am I right? I read the quote below in a book and it got me thinking. Mothering isn’t easy when we wake up and realize that cute newborn that smiled at us from day one and that toddler that squeezed our neck and said, “I love you”, that teen that did the dishes without asking – they are flawed. Yes, we raise flawed children and this is in part because not only were they born sinners but they are being raised by flawed humans. So now it’s time to face the facts, our child is flawed and we need to help them realize that don’t have to stay sinners but can come to Jesus. We need to set the standard that as flawed Christian human beings, we can lead a godly life and help them to do the same. How do we do this?

TESTIFYING OF HIS SALVATION

“…behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” 2 Corinthians 6:2

From the time they are young we need to speak God’s salvation to our children. As mothers we tend to be around them more than others and it is up to us to keep reminding them they are sinners in need of a Savior.

SET THE EXAMPLE IN SPIRIT

“Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.” Psalm 51:10

There are days when you feel all you do is break up fights and set attitudes straight. Are we doing this in the right spirit ourselves and then are we teaching our children to seek God’s forgiveness when tempers flare and anger erupts? David asked for a cleansed heart and we should teach our children to do the same knowing that the peace it comes will give them a stability in their daily lives always!

WALK IN JOY DAILY

“This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.” Psalms 118:24

Remember the day you first held your child and the joy you felt, hold on to that memory because you’re going to have to return to it again and again on those days when they’ve scribbled on the wall, didn’t do their homework or showed up past their curfew. Remind them and yourself that living with daily joy will go a long way to having a peaceful home and a love for each other that passes beyond the boundaries of wrong doing. Consequences will have to accompany wrong doing but rejoicing over apologies and working on forgiveness will go a long way in restoring joy in the home. There are so many many ways to set the example of godliness in the home and to help our very flawed children become more like Christ every day so let us keep growing with them. They are not perfect and I think deep down we know that but as they grow, mature, become Christians we can see that they are truly sinners saved by grace and we can lead them in the way of the Lord. Flawed? Yes! Forgiven by God? They can be! Loved by their mother even in those flawed moments? Always!