Summer 2016

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fact, a big deal. Taking a child out of the
church service to discipline them seems to
go on for years. The tenth time you cor-
rect your child for snatching a toy from
his sibling, you will wonder if they will be
snatching things from people when they
are twenty. But to keep it in perspective,
such struggles are a short season in your
life, even though it doesn’t feel like it as
you are going through it. Your baby will
eventually sleep through the night. Your
child will eventually sit through a whole
church service. They will learn to not take
toys away from their sibling. I remember
going through times that were incredibly
difficult with my children. Now I cannot
even recall the details of those struggles.
They were huge deal at the time, but over
the years of parenting, they truly are a very
short season.
I WAS RECENTLY ASKED to speak at a
baby shower. My youngest is fifteen, so it
has been a long time since we had a baby
in the house. Working on the devotional
for the shower brought a rush of memo-
ries from my childbearing years. Since this
is a column for homeschool moms, many
of whom might be expecting or have new
babies, I thought I would share the devo-
tional from the baby shower.
Being a mom will probably be the hard-
est thing you will ever do; you will make
more sacrifices than you ever thought pos-
sible. But motherhood will also be the
most rewarding thing you ever do. You
will love your children more than you ever
thought possible. You will cry more than
you ever have. You will laugh more than
you have ever laughed before. You will
learn to depend on God more than ever.
God uses your motherhood for your own
spiritual growth and sanctification.
I remember looking down at the sweet,
tiny face of my first-born son. It was at
that moment I realized my heart would
never be in my own body again: instead,
my heart would be walking around in the
form of this little boy and all my future
children. It would be walking around in
the form of this little boy and all my fu-
ture children. Their joys would be my joys.
Their heartaches would be my heartaches.
I will worry or, to phrase it in more spiri-
tual terms, “be concerned” for them until
the day I died. Nothing makes you depend
on the Lord as much as knowing a little
life is both physically and spiritually in
your hands.
One of my favorite quotes when my
children were little was, “The days are long,
but the years are short.” Treasure each mo-
ment with your children. Trust me when I
tell you that you will blink, and they will
be twenty-four years old and married.
Do not sweat the small stuff. The small
stuff can seem like a huge deal in the mo-
ment. Getting up multiple times a night
with a baby and being sleep deprived is, in
Baby Shower
Trust me when I tell you that you will
blink, and they will be twenty-four
years old and married.