“I feel terrible I can’t do more at Church. With three little ones under the age of five, it just seems like someone is always sick or sleeping. Maybe when they get in school I can serve.” Sound familiar? If you are a Christian mom of even one child, you have probably either said something similar or heard one or more of your friends say it. Moms of young children everywhere are feeling guilty for their inability to serve in various capacities at Church.
With only minimal apologies to all of those searching for volunteers at churches around the world, I say ban the guilt! Sorta. If you are discipling your children in how to live an impactful, Christian life – that, my sisters, is your full-time ministry! Anything you are able to do to help other ministries is icing on the cake in my book.
Notice though, the “if”. Unfortunately, many Christian moms have abdicated their role (as one who disciples their children for God) to others. Perhaps you assume an hour or two a week in church or Bible classes, will adequately disciple your children. Maybe you are hoping your church employs an awesome youth minister in your child’s teen years. Surely, he will disciple your child. Maybe you’ve even dug deeply into your pockets and spend thousands of dollars a year on a private Christian school. For that kind of money and with eight or more hours of your child’s day, you reason, she ought to be properly discipled!
When my daughter was younger, I loved when she would have those long vacations from school. We would sleep in a bit and have lots of adventures. Inevitably though, at some point the dreaded words “I’m bored” were uttered. Of course, the go-to parental response is to offer all sorts of fun chores. If you find the boredoms are hitting your home daily though, you may want to be a little more intentional about providing activities for your children.
Let’s be honest. There are times when caffeine can be a mother’s best friend. Inevitably, the night you have to stay up all night with a sick child ends the same morning your other child has to be at an early morning practice – and you are responsible for bringing breakfast. That cup of tea or coffee (or chocolate bar) might get you through a day like that, but you can barely survive if the routine continues that way for days and weeks on end. To reach your “mom potential” and truly thrive, you have got to get a good night’s sleep on a semi-regular basis.
If you are the parent of a young child, the word most often uttered by your child is quite possibly “Why?” Children are naturally curious. They are hardwired to ask questions, because the answers help them learn more about the world around them than they can easily discover with their senses.
One of the Bible stories that fascinated me as a child was the story of Gideon. It was amazing to me that how a man drank water from a stream determined whether or not God would use him in an important battle. Or that a young boy’s lunch not only fed 5,000 people, but became an example of how God can take our little things and make them into something amazing.