Steadfast

Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.
I Corinthians 15:58, ESV

A mother is most often undone when her children are fixated on something in a store and they are at a complete standstill. Unmovable. Not wanting to follow you away from what they are laser-focused on. Perhaps their cries spill forth to match your internal ones. Their gaze is on what they want, while yours is on them. They stand their ground, and in those moments you feel yours is shaken.

Have you ever been in one of these situations? Were you more concerned with how you would get out of the mess than with what your child wanted? Did you feel your resolve crumbling, while your child’s remained steadfast and firm?

Oh, if only we could be this determined and firm in our beliefs about God when we don’t want to leave the spot we’re in to step up and be the parent our child needs us to be.

When the Bible says we are to be steadfast, God is telling us to stand firmly in place in our beliefs in him. We need to be like our children who have their hearts set on an outcome. Our hearts need to have firm beliefs in the ways that God has called us to love them without wavering, even when they challenge us.

Our children’s resolve can be steadfast, and as parents we start to wonder why we aren’t steadfast with such gusto! We may lose our footing for a moment or a season as a mom, but we aren’t disqualified from our post. We can pick back up and willfully enter into the daily duties of greater responsibility. There’s a quiet strength within us that rises to the top—when we allow it—to be the parent we need to be for our children.

In moments of frustration, do we let the rise come out of us as anger or as strength to redirect our children’s hearts and our own? It’s often been said that peace exists within us, not out there in the world. How easily do we give up our peace when we feel it’s in short supply? If peace can be so fleeting, what is it that keeps us going? When we are raising our children, we are doing the work of the Lord, and we know from the opening verse that nothing we do for the Lord is in vain.

Can you picture your children looking back and thanking you for not giving them what they truly wanted? For teaching them that “no” is an okay answer that sets up a healthy boundary for the “yes” that comes later? We are made to fill up on loads of peace. And not because of a situation in a store but because of who is present in our lives. Our steadfast work as mothers brings a certain amount of tension, moments we don’t necessarily laugh about as we go through them, but when we are immovable on what’s right, it brings out the best in our family.

You are . . . Peaceful

Mom, may you feel God’s peace in this season of your life. This is possible when you fix your thoughts on him and take every anxious thought you have to him, knowing the truth he offers. You are steadfast in your love for your children, even when they challenge you, and the peace that comes to you is felt in the choices you make.