The inconvenience of parenting

I had a situation occur tonight that was not new to me.  As a matter of fact it has happened more frequently than I would like to admit over the past 5 years. 

It was late and I figured I would be off to bed in a timely fashion, without mishap, but I was wrong.  Instead a found myself cleaning up after an accident and thinking to myself, “How inconvenient”.   I stopped there.  Did I really just indicate that parenting was inconvenient?  

How many of you have thought that?  You had your plans, you had ideas of how things were going to work out and then “BAM”, inconvenience strikes.  Is life ever so easy as to  have no obstacles or hurdles?  Well, I guess tonight, I thought so.   If parenting is anything it’s inconvenient, it’s difficult, it’s unpredictable, it’s unrewarding, it is such a tough job.  Why do you think God wanted to start over so many times, His children drove him to annihilation.  Thank you Jesus for Grace and Mercy.  

Where is my grace and mercy on nights like tonight.  Nights when I was so tired and had to deal with unpleasantness to the degree that it has kept me up even longer to write about it.  How can I extend my arms of grace to my child when they have done something to disturb my schedule, my plans?  I must look to the loving Father who used sacrificial love to extend His grace to me.  My love must be sacrificial, I must crucify my inconvenience on the cross of mercy and let it flow through everything that I do.  So what if I go to bed 45 minutes later than planned if I can lovingly tuck my child in bed after a most unpleasant episode and wrap my arms around his little body and tell him I love him even in the midst of my frustration.  Isn’t that what the Father did for us?

God sent His son in the midst of our sin and He required a sacrifice to save us.  It wasn’t the original plan and I would say it was most inconvenient for Jesus to leave heaven, become a man, live among us, be betrayed, beaten and hung to die.  But He did it, because He loves us.  What is our inconvenience compared to His?

The Blessing of Working with Children

This past Sunday a parent of one of our two year olds came to me with a report that blessed me so much I had to share it with all of you.

First, I want to say that every one of my volunteers needs to understand the important role they have in the little lives that they spend one Sunday with each month.  Be encouraged that the work that you do is going much further than you think.

Here is my confirmation:

This parent came to us with a praise report like I have never had before.  They started out by saying that we may not think a two year old understands what we are teaching them (by faith we believe that they do understand).  They went on to say how their child shares what they've learned that Sunday, not just with the parent that is at church, but with the parent that is unsaved at home.  This little evangelist goes straight to it's parent and retells each story, shows the craft completed and (this is my favorite) expresses that Jesus is in their heart.

That's not all though, this child has family in another country and when talking to them on the phone tells of Jesus and the heart that He filled.  This little one talks about Jesus all the time, constantly ministering to that unsaved parent and extended family.

Friends, please understand, you are not just teaching children, you are raising up evangelists, teachers, preachers, prophets and the like.

You are so important to the lives of the children you touch.

May God continue to bring the volunteers like you, who have a heart to share the love of Jesus with all the little ones in our congregation.

I love and appreciate all of you so very, very much!

Working Together

This past week my cousins came to help build a tree house for the boys in our back yard.  After days of rain we finally received beautiful weather which left us only three days to complete the task.  We worked continually to get it done, the men did most of the labor but the women and children (when they were not playing) assisted as best they could.  It took all of us to make it happen.  

Even though the men did most of the heavy labor that doesn’t mean that the others were not important.  Any carpenter will tell you that working with an assistant makes a job go so much smoother.  Besides that, someone has to feed the workers!    As we were finishing up one evening it occurred to me how important all of us were to this project.  We functioned fluidly toward the end, knowing how to hold this board or measure that rail.  If we were to go on for days it would have been fun to see how much more we could have done now knowing just how to help each other.

It is like this in the body of Christ as well.  We all have different jobs and if we do them together, working toward one final goal we will successfully bless the world with the love of Jesus.  

1 Corinthians 12:12-27 says this:

¹² Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. ¹³ For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. ¹⁴ Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many. 

 ¹⁵ Now if the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. ¹⁶ And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. ¹⁷ If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? ¹⁸ But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. ¹⁹ If they were all one part, where would the body be? ²⁰ As it is, there are many parts, but one body. 

 ²¹ The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” ²² On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, ²³ and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, ²⁴ while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, ²⁵ so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. ²⁶ If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. 

 ²⁷ Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. 

We are all needed in the body of Christ, we are all important.  The nursery worker is as important as the one leading praise and worship and the one teaching the children is as important as the one teaching the adults.  We all work together for the glory of Christ.  Blessing Him with our love for others and our willingness to do the small jobs in order to love our Big God!