Devotion

This is a devotion I'm doing for my MOPS group this morning.  It is based on the post I wrote a while ago.  


1 Corinthians 15:58


As parents we are committed to our kids.  We want to help them develop an unshakable faith and a love for Christ.  Although we all have different views on baptism, at some point we have committed our kids to God.  We have had dedications or baptisms where we place our kids once again in God's care!  Our commitment is to grow faithful loving adults.


That commitment can be hard to remember in the day to day.  We leave on Tuesday feeling that MOPS high and by Friday have forgotten what exactly makes us a great mom.  We struggle with just getting through the day let alone teaching our children something.  We make poor decisions in the heat of battle with a toddler and have been known to argue with our older kids.  We have forgotten we are committed to them.


Proverbs 16:3


I had a wake up call one morning in the car.  We were riding along and I was thinking and chatting with my hubby about maybe finding a part time job.  For some reason it had me excited.  Then I remembered I do have one.  I am a cross country coach.  The fact that I already had a part time job made me realize that finding one was not going to fulfill that purpose in my life.  It won't make me a better mom or fix the troubles with a 3 year old.  It had me down for a minute.

Then, I hear Diana Nyad on NPR.   She spoke to ME!  Even my hubby looked over and said "did you hear that"?  At the age of 60 she is going to attempt (again) to swim from Cuba to Florida without a shark cage.  This is what she said (to ME!).

That's what gives us a sense of purpose is commitment. Whether you've decided, I'm going to raise this child, this child's going to come first and I'm going to make this child a good citizen of the world. You know, to me that's the ultimate commitment. 

I was seriously struggling with being a stay at home mom and forgetting the ultimate commitment to my children.  The days might be long, hard, busy, and stressful.  In the end though, I'm hoping to have made a difference in my children's lives.  It's not a one day thing.  Nyad didn't decide to swim from Cuba to Florida and only train for a few days.  This is the same idea for our children.  We can't raise them in a day.  We will continually commit to making them faithful children of God.  


Our children have given us the ultimate sense of commitment.  There is a bigger picture in each day.  Nyad's goal was to swim from Cuba to Florida- her big picture.  In the days and months that have been leading up to this goal she has also been doing the small things.  She has been doing different training exercises, monitoring her diet, and I'm sure studying the weather and water patterns with her team.  If she gets caught up in just one of these things she can lose the big picture.  Just as we, as parents sometimes get caught up in the little milestones.  Now I have to teach them this, potty train them, take them to this lesson.  All of these little things add up to our purpose which is to raise faithful children.  


So let's take a step back and look at the big picture.  We sat with a fellow pastor and his family at a wedding recently.  They have 3 grown children, one married, and two in college.  We sat back and watched the 3 children talk, laugh, and genuinely care about one another and others at the table.  Bryant and I said to each other and to our friends "that's what we want our kids to be like".   These little things are going to add up.  As our children grow into adults we are going to be able to look back at the big picture and say "look at what we accomplished with God's help".  Just as Nyad will look back at Cuba from the shores of Florida and say "look at what I finally did". 


Proverbs 16:3 


What goal have you committed to for your children?  What is the big picture?


Are the little choices you are making with your kids in line with the big commitment or picture you have for them?  


What is something you can do today to commit yourself to your children?  For example, do you want them to read the bible? Do you read it with them?  If you want them to have a strong prayer life, do you pray with them?