Laundry Day

Sometimes I wonder why it takes all day to get the laundry folded…Maybe it’s all that great help I get!!

I guess I could have been frustrated that I had to re-fold the laundry – for the third time! But, I wasn’t. I couldn’t help but giggle at my daughter, as she tossed the just-folded clothes on to the floor, climbed in, and made herself comfortable. I just had to grab the camera!!

In her book Feminine Appeal, in a chapter titled “The Blessings of Loving my Children,” Carolyn Mahaney says this:

“Now it is noble to be faithful to the task of serving our
children. But, Titus 2 calls us to something more (and definitely not
less) than a sacrificial and dutiful love. We are to delight in our
children.”

Jason and I were just talking about how quickly Hannah is growing. Her first birthday is just around the corner! Even though I am looking forward to the days, and years, to come, sometimes, I wish time would just slow down so that I could fully enjoy every moment with her. But, with the realization of how quickly she is growing up comes a sense of urgency about the responsibility that we have been given as her parents.

Mahaney goes on to say, later in the same chapter, that

“Our goal is not that our children be happy, fulfilled, and
successful. Granted, we may desire these things for them. But our highest objective should be that our children would repent from thier sins, put their trust in Jesus Christ, and reflect the gospel to the world around them.”

But, how is that possible, unless we, as parents are the example. I want Hannah to learn to put away her toys – do I put my things away? I want Hannah to be patient when she has to wait for something she wants – am I patient? I want her to come to know and love the Lord as her Savior – does she see me loving Him, reading and obeying God’s Word joyfully? Elisabeth Elliot makes this observation,

“The process of shaping the child, shapes also the mother herself. Reverence for her sacred burden calls her to all that is pure and good, that she may teach primarily by her own humble daily example.”

I have been studying 2 Timothy recently. And, although I’ve read these verses before, this time, I was struck by the impact of Timothy’s mother. In chapter one, Paul mentions Timothy’s “sincere faith” which was first found in his mother and grandmother. And then, as Paul is encouraging Timothy to persevere in the face of the trials and persecutions that were to come, he says, “You, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them; and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.” From childhood…That is the kind of legacy that I want Hannah to have.

In the book, The Mother at Home, John S.C. Abbott speaks highly of the responsibility and privilege that a mother has in training her children in this way:

“The mother must not surrender the instruction of her children in the narratives and truths of the Bible to others – to the Sabbath-school teacher or her pastor. Grateful as she may be for the Sabbath-school, and the church, and all the benign influences which they exert, it is her privilege, her peculiar privilege, her inestimable privilege – a privilege of which no one may deprive her to take her child by the hand herself and lead him to the Savior.”

Of course, this does not in any way discount the important role that a father must play in the spiritual training of his children, and I am very thankful for a husband who sees and desires to do just that! But, in the course of several conversations over the past few days, all seeming to center on the topic of motherhood, I have been reminded of this incredible gift that I have been given. It is indeed a gift to stay at home with my precious daughter, to teach her and train her – even if I do have to re-fold the laundry once or twice!