Weary In The Trenches

When I look back to the days when I only had small children, I remember that at times I felt like a weary soldier fighting in the trenches of a battle zone, not sure who would still be standing when the smoke cleared! The conflicts seemed so intense, and the mental and physical exhaustion of caring for small children was often overwhelming. (Of course it wasn't always like that. Thankfully the Lord weaves the challenges together with unspeakable joys, and I am thankful for every day of the last 18 years of motherhood! It is a great and humbling privilege to be entrusted with children to raise up for the Lord. With that said...) Every day of training was done simply in faith, having not lived long enough to find out what spiritual fruit looked like in the lives of my children, and if I would ever see any.

My thoughts were turned back to those days recently as I was studying about Paul's exhortation to Timothy to be a good soldier of Christ. Paul urged Timothy to be aware that a spiritual battle is always going on, and that a good soldier will be on the alert and engaged in the conflict, always watching lest he become entangled in civilian affairs and rendered useless in the battle.

For those of us entrusted with children, we've been given a divine mission to point little souls back to their Creator. It is a daunting task, and when the conflicts are intensified by fatigue and our own sin, it is really easy to forget about the spiritual battle that we are in. We are not just changing diapers, and wiping up that millionth spill, and looking for that lost shoe. But it is Divine Duty to care for and love and build a relationship with our children, so that we will have a platform from which to give them the Gospel.

Unfortunately, I sometimes forget that when everyone is crying or the bedtime routine is unnecessarily drawn out, or I'm simply distracted by the busyness of life. Praise God for His Word that grabs us by the shoulders and points us back in the right direction when we are straying off the path!