Someday, not all that long from now, you will be nothing but a memory. You will be a story that your children tell in a few words.
The Bible tells us that we are a vapor (or mist) that is quickly fading away. There is a huge truth in that.
In a few short decades, our children will be grown. Those little noses we wipe all day, will wipe themselves. And feed themselves, And clothe themselves. And our raising of them will be complete.
The years of up-all-nights, the flood of worry and parenting doubts, every desperate prayer for wisdom, all the toddler tantrums, every adolescent struggle, and even every adult phone call home (“Mom, how do you make mashed potatoes again??) will be completed. Your days on Earth will be over. What mommy, do you want them to remember?
Their entire childhood will someday be a boxed up, crinkled memory that they will carry in their hearts the rest of their lives.
We get so caught up in the day to day struggles, that we forget that we are raising little people who will be adults very soon. Stop and think about what you want that to look like when you are no longer around to tell about it.
That’s the importance of Little. I have heard it said that motherhood is the marriage of the mundane and the eternal. How profound! Our day to day, over and over is not an endless, helpless cycle of struggles. We are raising fragile hearts and souls that have the weight of eternity riding on them. Jesus said: that which we do to the least of these, we do unto Him.
Motherhood then, with its snotty noses, endless laundry piles, and hungry tummies, is Kingdom work of the utmost importance. It is an act of worship.
I want my children to see Christ in how I nurture them; His presence ever near. I want my words and actions to point them toward Him. It may be simply the deepest desire of my heart. I want to pour all that I am into their lives, as a vessel of His anointed work.
That doesn’t work well when mommy is grumpy, or discontent in her circumstances. It doesn’t happen when mommy is completely outmatched, and is still attempting to do everything in her own strength. It happens when you come to the end of yourself, and realize that you will never be enough.
You can’t be. It was never intended for you to be enough. But HE is. He knew the importance of Little. His time was short, but He made time for them. When everyone else saw a burden, He said “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them.”
I want to be more like Him; more like the mommy He calls me to be. I want to rest in His abundance and be filled with His joy, reveling in their exhausting little years.
I will let them be Little. I will let her splash in the puddles, sometimes, completely drenching her pink dress. I will let him crack the eggs all by himself, sometimes, even if we lose a few and make a grand mess in the process.
I will let them all pile into my lap and I will read to them, out-loud, letting them soak in the enjoyment of the written word. I will make time to stop. To look and listen to the Little things they find so fascinating. All the bugs and the rocks, the airplanes and squirrels.
I will look at the world through their wonder, and meet them where they are. I will take WAY too many pictures of every silly pose they want to make. We will dance more. Sing more. Bake more. I will hold them more while I can, because I have never heard a mommy with grown children say, “We baked too many cookies, and I held them too much.”
That’s the importance of Little.
I will find a way to entwine scripture into the fabric of our family. We will allow His word to be as life-giving as breathing and as essential as food. Through His strength, and by the wisdom He gives when we cry out, we will not miss the formative years that He has entrusted us with,
That’s the importance of Little.
Someday you will be nothing more than a story your children tell, from the crinkly corners of their childhood. Who do you want them to say you were?
Related Posts:
Tiffany
Latest posts by Tiffany (see all)
- The Best Inexpensive Air Dry Clay Recipe For Kids - June 18, 2023
- Canceled at What Cost - March 5, 2021
- How to Start Homeschooling - February 8, 2021
You must be logged in to post a comment.