Mom Heart Moments #302

I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.

TWENTY-FOUR HOURS OF FLYING and waiting and standing and carrying bags left me a bit weary and exhausted, but the feeling was a familiar one for me, and I knew that in a few days I would be over the jet lag. On my journey, I sat next to a young mother from Paris who had a nine-month-old baby to wrestle through all the wakings, feedings, and “play-ings” that would come with a long flight.

As I was watching her in constant motion —changing, cajoling, nursing, bouncing, and doing it all over again, I was reminded again how much being a mother has shaped, stretched, and enlarged my soul. I could almost literally see the soul and character of this young woman being stretched over our hours together.

Oftentimes, we consider the tasks we perform as being for the benefit of the children or babies we serve. God sees so much more! He gave us children so that we might become unselfish, love generously, work more heartily, understand forgiveness, learn perseverance, develop endurance, grow in graciousness, expand our creativity, and learn the skills of lifegiving parenting. He knew through this great work of motherhood, we would slowly be conformed into the image of Christ, and from this commitment we would come to better understand His fatherhood, His sacrifice, and His unmerited favor toward us.

His plan for motherhood became the long-term instrument through which He shaped and crafted my soul. To become a vessel where He is willing to dwell, to become a soul reflecting Him and His gentle love and powerful reality, we must submit to the building and crafting He has designed by making us mothers after His own heart.

Do you know that the work you’re doing is important to God not only because of what He wants to accomplish in your children, but also because of what He’s doing in you?