Ode to Mothering Part 3

While acknowledging that I have much to improve upon when it comes to gentleness, there is one matter where Paul and I are perfectly matched. His cause, the one that saw him imprisoned for years, is mine as well. Paul was a Christian, and he wanted people to know about Jesus Christ. Paul wanted people to know that Jesus is God’s Son, the King who rules over everyone whether they recognise that authority or not. Paul wanted people to know that Jesus is the one man who came to die, to pay the penalty for the disrespect people show to God, so that instead of facing God’s anger, we can have peace with Him.
The people that Paul loved so much, worked so hard for, and lived with gentleness among, were the people who he had told about Jesus. Paul’s efforts bore good fruit. These people became Christians, and Paul then spent several years teaching them to be committed, faithful Christians.

My absolute number one goal as a mother is exactly the same as Paul’s was with these people. I want my children to know who Jesus Christ is, and to believe in Him and trust in Him as their King, the one who saved them.

Now you might have other goals for your children. If you are not a Christian, my goal might sound pretty strange or even bizarre. So I thought I would explain why this is my goal. Funnily enough, it’s the same reason that Paul gave for his own hard work telling people about Jesus. I want to please God. It is as simple as that. I’m not so worried about pleasing people, although I do have my moments when I wonder what people think about me. I’m not really concerned about having heaps of money, or being powerful, or looking great. I am a Christian. And that means that I have made a decision to stop living my life according to my own natural desires, and to begin directing my life towards doing what God wants me to do, instead.

To that end, I am working hard every day. I am striving to show God’s love to my children with every gentle word that I speak, and every gentle action that I make. I want my children to know and love Jesus Christ, in the same way that I do. One day I will look back and see the results of my hard work and my efforts at gentleness. I hope and pray that I will be able to say with joy, just as Paul did, that my children “became imitators of us and the Lord”.