Chapter 3 covers our privilege of loving (and ENJOYING) our children that God has blessed us with! Identifying the factor that leads to our exasperation helped me: "Because mothering requires constant sacrifice, the temptations to resentment, complaining, and self-pity are always close at hand. But such selfishness will quickly sap the strength of our love for our children." It does require sacrifice - I often feel that it's unfair my life should be so dramatically adjusted for the sake of someone else a quarter the size of me! I realized that I often go through the day without a trace of a smile and with a lot of stress trying to complete the overcommitted checklist of things I have to get through in a day... and the ones who suffer the most are my kids. I have made an effort today (and by the grace of God will continue every day) to make sure I spend enough time nurturing the joy I have for my children.
Do you know, it really makes me sad when I do hear about moms not enjoying their children? Or they can't wait to get them into preschool so they can be free to live their own lives again, or it's obvious that children are more of a burden than a blessing? I am guilty of this sometimes. I think the Lord grieves over it, a thousand times more hurtful than the gift receiver blatantly rejecting the precious gift of the Giver. "Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD, the fruit of the womb a REWARD. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one's youth. BLESSED is the man who fills his quiver with them!"
And of course, the issue of their little souls. "Every step you take about them, every plan, scheme, arrangement that concerns them, do not leave out that mighty question, 'How will this affect their souls?" I know that this is not a question I ask myself all the time but I intend to as we continue our responsibility taking care of my littles.
Phew, I start the next chapter with trepidation: Self-control...! This one's really interesting (wondering if we could play something like what's described... you'll know what I mean when you read it!)
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4 comments:
oh man, this is hard one for me. i have to confess that i have VERY often had to keep myself from muttering, "you're the mother, not me" :( BUT please don't think that i hate watching the kids! i love them so much, and i'm so grateful to God that He's given you and yuyeon kids for ME to play with hahaha. but i do struggle sometimes with serving with a heart that desires to please Him, and lose sight so easily that even though i'm just the imo, i also have an influence on their eternal souls.
oo i can tell that reading this chapter's gonna be tough on me :P
hey i changed the name of our blog. hahahah. you can change it to something else if you don't like it.
Before I got married, I got burnt out with kids. A certain younger brother and sister just turned me OFF from having any babies. I was close to just nixing that 'idea' and travelling and enjoying my life for a few years because I had had enough of taking care of children! :-)
I'm so glad that my view has changed. It's something you will have to place before the Lord. I think at this point, I'm learning to not just have all these children and not contribute to their eternity, but to really value them more and more. It's not a hard chapter to read because it helps us take our eyes off the self-sacrificing, hard part of it, to the enjoyment, satisfying reward part of it! have fun and post here when you're done! :-)
"a certain younger brother and sister"
hahahha not sisterS?? lol
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