Discipleship

The greatest challenge I have ever been given is that of Christian parenting, AKA discipling. I'm not talking about television-raising parenting or any other cop-out parenting. I'm talking about attempting to make disciples and raise your children to honor the Lord.

There are the normal exhaustions of parenting that we selectively forget when looking back on the early years. Any parent is faced with the frustrations of talking back, constant noise, discipline and punishment. Those are hard. Those try your core. And those you can't get away from because your child will follow you. ;)

But there is a greater call that will strip you to your core - making disciples.

The Word tells all Christians to go and make disciples. So we arm ourselves for the outdoors, prepping ourselves in the quiet of the morning for the tasks at hand in the day. We strap on our kindness and our faithfulness and our godliness as we seek to intentionally love others to Christ around us.

But what happens when your disciplings are waiting for you before you have gotten your shower? What happens when your disciplings cry out over the baby monitor for the 15 billionth time in the night and they are just as demanding of your example the following morning? Discipleship moves to a whole new level.

And while discipleship is a shared responsibility for a husband and wife when a husband is home, during working hours discipleship is a mother's responsibility. And no matter how much joy and enjoyment you may find in discipling your children, there are still those moments of returning to your home with toddlers in tow and tears in your eyes because no one showed up for their discipling shift in the nursery again. Those moments are hard, when it feels like you alone are investing in your children with minimal, if any some weeks, breaks to re-prep and re-focus.

I am grateful to those who go out of their way to disciple my children. I am grateful for those who require nothing more than "thanks" from me in exchange for personal time to regroup and recollect myself. Their gift is generous to my children and overly generous to me. Gratitude feels like too small of a word to use to express my thanks. And i try to express my thanks as often as I can to those who so selflessly take on my Mommy hat for a few hours.

(sigh).

Discipleship is hard. Seeing your deepest flaws in your children makes you want to be a better Christian and leave a better legacy. But constantly being faced with your greatest challenge day in and day out, 24/7 is also a challenge in itself.

Some days I show up for the challenge. Other days I wish my kids could follow a real example of a good Christian.

And while discipleship is QUITE the challenge, it carries quite the rewards as well. It's the investment in them that is a reminder of God's investment in us... while we were yet sinners.

- just some thoughts on discipleship in the home.