How many times have you gone to church only to see that one mom, sitting in the back with her kids, spend most of the time chasing her active toddler around the narthex? It’s exhausting. I speak from experience. There comes a point where you feel like you should just give up. Why bother spending all that time trying to get your child to wear clothes. Why bother getting yourself up and dressed. Why not just stay home in bed. God will understand.
There is nothing to understand. You don’t give up.
At MOMcon 2013, author and speaker Lisa Chan reminded us that we, too, are children–children of God.
“We are here for God-His glory, purpose and kingdom, not our husbands or our kids,” Chan said.
We need to remember that we are here for a purpose, to live out the calling he has given us.
Our charge is to live a life worthy of the calling we receive. Walk with Jesus. Fight for your relationship with God. Don’t turn your family into an idol. In this season of life, we still need him.
I heard someone at the conference explain it like this:
I want to live my life above all for God, and hopefully my husband and my children will follow me.
But what happens?
God gets put on the back burner as our kids take over so much of our time. He plays second fiddle to Sunday morning karate. He gets neglected for extra sleep. He gets left behind as we become immersed in schedules and homework and backpacks and iPads and report cards and sleep overs. The need for him is replaced by feelings of anxiety, lonliness, disappointment and frustration.
Motherhood comes in, wraps itself around us and we often not only forget who we are, but who he is.
Our father. Our savior. Our source of peace that surpasses all understanding in a life where your toddler has just shoved a chicken nugget up his or her nose, a world where your neighbor is seriously injured in a car accident, or a world where you lose a parent, sibling, or even a spouse.
So while this season of your life, this short-lived, fast-paced, sliver of the time God has given you, is insanely crazy and hurried and more than you can handle sometimes, it is not the time to put your relationship with God on hold.
Dig deeper. He’s there.
Pray. He’s there.
Go to church. He’s there.
Teach your kids that he is there.
Remember that no matter what, he is there.
You there too.
