Spiritual Growth and Motherhood

As a Mom, I know maintaining and strengthening my faith and spiritual life is so important. Staying connected to the saving power of Jesus is necessary all the time, but even more soo when our family life and household duties get us overwhelmed or frustrated. When we have the power of a living, thriving relationship with Christ, then He carries burdens for us, guides us through the toughest parts of life, and keeps us moving forward to more joy and more abiding faith.

This relationship I have with Christ, reminds me of my marriage in some ways, because I am committed to my husband through the great times and the mediocre times, and the really difficult times. Likewise, with Jesus, I will find that some times I feel more distant, but the commitment is still there. There will be times when I have to focus on important things, like feeding my newborn baby every 2-3 hours, and I won't have as much time for "dates" with Christ, but I will still be "married" to Him and in a relationship with Him. I always hunger and thirst for quiet time to read the Bible and pray, and I will do those things as much as possible, adjusting my life to accommodate these precious times of devotion and growth. If, I don't make time for Christ, then the relationship will suffer, just like a marriage suffers if the two people don't have open communication and or spend time alone together to connect and show each other love.

 There are times, however, when the stuff of life gets in the way and I cruise for a while, not really growing, but not really dying either. Complacency is in some ways even worse than being dead, because you no longer have motivation or desire. This can happen to us Moms as we get overwhelmed by all that is involved with family life and keeping up the house, but we need to notice when our spiritual "refrigerator" is getting empty and restock it. Just like we have to provide physical food for our families and go out and buy it and prepare it and serve it, in the same way we need to be responsible for our own spiritual food--getting it, eating it, and digesting it. Once we take the time to "eat" the Bible, pray, and put the principles into action, we will be stronger and stronger spiritually!

Faith grows as we spend time with Christ, learning from His words and sharing our thoughts and activities with Him. I am so busy sometimes with just keeping up with the necessities of living this life on this earth, that I don't think about heaven and eternal life. This world is so so temporary and the life with Jesus in heaven and throughout eternal life is so permanent and will last beyond all time.  I am going to make a specific effort to think about heaven at least once a day. I might turn off the radio in the car and describe to myself and my kids in the car what I think heaven will be like, what I want to ask Jesus about, and what I want to do up there that I probably won't get to do down here on earth. I want to make this a real part of my life.

My roses are really blooming right now in our backyard, and they remind me of a thriving, beautiful, Christian life....there may be thorns, but with Jesus watering our lives, shining his Son-shine on us, and the nutrients of his Bread of life--the Bible, then we are sure to find our life full of beautiful blooms representing the hope and joy of being connected to our Savior Jesus Christ.