Hey Mama Monday: Are You Patient, Mama?

Hey, Mama!

You gotta know this: they will utterly fail sometimes. Your children are a work in progress, so resist the temptation to think they have arrived. You are setting yourself up for disappointment or even anger if you do.

Think about your own walk with the Lord. He is the perfect Parent. There is no One more patient, kind, compassionate or merciful, right? His instruction is pure. His Word is clear. Yet we have stumbled repeatedly as new baby Christians, and even still as seasoned ones. Walking with the Lord now for over thirty years, I am sometimes perplexed by my lack of understanding. My failures. When will I ever learn? Why can’t I love my Savior better, obey faster, pray more emphatically, and always do what I know is right?

God’s Word teaches us that we are weak in nature. Our frame is dust. But out of His kindness and understanding, He recognizes our frailties. He also knows He has given us His Word. We are responsible to read it. To apply it. To pick up our cross and follow Him. To strive for holiness. To close our mouths instead of always running them off. To listen, to be slow to anger, and quick to forgive.

And we are dust. Weak. Imperfect.

What a Parent God is! What patience! He tests us, yes. Trials will come. But our character will be strengthened. The goal is to have the mind of Christ. It’s what we desire for our own children, too. So we allow them to face trials. We work with them. We have heart talks. We carry on.

But it’s easy to think they should “get it” by now, right? They should make all the right choices. They’ve been told how to behave! We’ve been over this. Twenty-plus times and counting.

Mama, plan on them blowing it. Plan on the occasional bad day. Plan to be shocked sometimes. Your children are an ongoing work in progress. Just as the Lord lovingly waits for us to mature, wait for your children, and pray.

When the bad days come, stay the course. It doesn’t mean giving up, any more than the Lord gives up on us. He sets us right, we repent and start again.

Insist on moving forward with your children. But keep it balanced. Maybe it’s time to change up the schedule, put some of the school work away, and just get into the kitchen and whip up a bakery-fest. Or build forts in the living room together. Break out the modeling clay and be Rodin for the afternoon. Relationship. It’s what they will remember.

They are flesh, bone, and blood… imperfect. Small frames. Dust. Mini versions of you and me. Smile instead of crumpling at the chaos. No crisis will ensue because you take a free day of fun with these young souls. In fact, you may just avert one because of your willingness to let the Lord redirect your steps.

As always, weak Mama, yet strong Mama in Christ, because He does it all . . . His hand is on your head today.

“For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust.” —Psalm 103:14

Share this on Pinterest!