"When I stop being “Kingdom-minded”, I stop making Kingdom choices.
Choices like
devoting a life to raising the next generation
to love God, to honor authority and to live wisely...
When we understand that our whole existence is to
glorify the Lord, we live each moment
differently.
We get about our Father’s business.
We don’t measure “if we should have children” by
their convenience or how many vacations it
will cost me or whether I can pursue my favorite pastime
or career. We don’t have children to look cute
in their ball uniforms and homemade hair bows.
We fall down on our knees with the grave responsibility of stewardship over these children, these
people who will either further the Kingdom or be a blight on society, based largely on our diligence
to the duty of raising them.
I must govern my home well. It is the cruelest act of motherhood that I should
neglect to teach my children to obey the loving authority over them. For in doing so, I make
them unable to submit to God.
Children who have not learned self-government
stand to be the most wretched of all men and women,
loathing you for your indulgences.
But don’t you see, it isn’t harsh! It wells up from the deepest love, the deepest desire to see our
children walking in truth and evokes sheer delight to walk beside them.
When I see my children through Kingdom-eyes,
their vices aren’t irritations that bug me and cause
me to be angry; they are offenses that sober me
and call me to the tireless and tender action of
praying for, teaching and tending the garden of their souls.
(Teach me this Lord? Please teach me how to live this way each day.)
My children are the very happiest when I have loved
them enough to require gratitude, obedience and
honor. Their little faces light up into mine when
they sense my tenderest sincerity toward their
character.
And then, to place my hands on their heads, kneel over them and pray…
“Father, you have blessed me with this child. Thank you that she is growing to
love You, thank you that she is obedient, and I pray that she will serve you all
the days of her life”….
causes a heart-smile to break across their faces, and they know–
it sinks down deep and they KNOW
that I am in this for life, through tears, joys and hardship.
I am their advocate, and I will stop short of
nothing to give “my life for yours” in these few years they are mine."
(An exert from When Motherhood Feels Too Hard, By Kelly Crawford)
In this world it can be so difficult to remember the privilege of tending souls. But in my Savior's world, He knows that He has bestowed on me the greatest of all great gifts, when through humility, hardship & uncomprehending joy, He's made me a mother.
