Lord, give me patience with my kids

Pastor Mark Jeske

My children are grown now, and I often indulge in a fuzzy and hazy sentimental nostalgia for the days when they were all little and at home. I look at the old pictures, and the emotions just wash over me. How I miss those days! If only I could have them back.

God gave me a gift the other day. He allowed me to spend half a day with a family with four little kids that age. It all came back to me—the burden of keeping them alive, endless repeating of the same life lessons, scoldings, dirt, mess, selfishness, chaos, diapers, injuries, disobedience, stress, fatigue. I forgot how parents of young children essentially are their slaves for years. The children’s needs trump their own.

May I ask you to join me today in praying for the parents of young children? They are doing critically important work for our extended families, our churches, and our communities. God says, “Love is patient” (1 Corinthians 13:4). It is indeed. Let’s pray for parent patience because discipling children is exhausting work. You can assume that any mother of three young ones is teetering on the edge of insanity. Will you lend a helping hand?

If you are one of these noble warriors, please know how much we appreciate you. And so does God. Hang on! These days will soon pass, and then you too will nostalgically wish for them back.

Devotion used by permission of Time of Grace®. For more information, visit timeofgrace.org