When our four people were small ones with big needs, I often felt like a child making a block tower in a room full of children. Carefully, I would build a tall tower only to have it knocked down at the end of the day.
Each day there were meals to be made, laundry to do, and all of the other things that go along with taking care of big lives in small bodies. This is true for all moms, whether working or home.
There are tasks that go along with mothering that seem so small – especially when disconnected from the bigger picture. I thought the mundane things didn’t matter – only necessary. I was so wrong. What I couldn’t see then, and am starting to see more clearly now, is that as moms, we are building cathedrals.
Sometimes, if we focus on the day at hand, we can forget that we are building. Building takes time. And Moms, we’re not building just any old building.
We are building lives.
When we give our lives to God, He dwells in us. His wisdom. His vision. His hope. His heart. We are building small ones who will become big ones with the capacity to know God and to bring His hope and restoration to the hurting world.Beautiful cathedrals – that is what you are building. One brick at a time.
That little worship song you sing as a lullaby at bedtime? That little song is shaping the soul and giving truth that he will carry with him.
That way you pray with him and help him go to God with his fears? He is learning that there is someone bigger and more capable than he is that can handle his life.
The way you go to God when you mess up and you also apologize to that little heart? He is learning that you too need a restoring God. If this God is big enough for you, He’s big enough for him too. Our God is big enough for to handle our failures and because of His kindness, He doesn’t leave us there but changes us.
The home that you are creating through all that you do matters. It matters a lot.
You see, when we begin to believe that our days don’t matter, we act like they don’t matter. Things like spilled milk will make us cry – literally. We won’t be intentional with our time. We will choose the wrong things. We will watch t.v., spend too much time on Facebook or Pinterest, work too many hours and do things we would never do if we really believed that we are building. I know because I’ve been there.
We are fifteen years into our twenty-five year parenting journey of having kids under 18 and I am seeing half-built cathedrals.
I often think that if I had known what I know now, I would have enjoyed things a little more. I wouldn’t have spent so much time believing that the small things I did didn’t matter because I can see now that they did – a lot.
I listen to the kids talk about the memories I didn’t know we were making.
The endless walks we took because going places with small ones was just simply too hard, are still a favorite pastime. Those little walks provide the biggest conversations. When the worship team sings the ‘lullaby’ worship song at church, I catch sideways glances from the teens. The song “You Dance Over Me” is embedded in their mind as theirs.
Obviously, there are bricks I would like to remove and days where I built with something ugly that I didn’t intend to build with. There are some bricks of anger, depression, discouragement and hard times, but even in those places, the kids have had front row seats to the redemptive power of God and His ability to truly bring change in a life that is seeking Him.
So, Moms, let’s keep building and ask for His wisdom for the task at hand. We are cathedral builders.
Word of the Day: Psalm 127:3-4 Children are a gift from the Lord; they are a reward from him. Children born to a young man are like arrows in a warrior’s hands.
Prayer: Father, Thank You that You have given me the privilege of taking care of little lives. Please help me to have Your vision for this time and to see things as You do. Help me to not get so caught up in the daily and mundane tasks that I lose sight of what it is that I am doing. I know that You have all the wisdom I need. Thank You that You love my children more than I ever could.