Raising Children (by Cathe Laurie)

“Then his mother and his brothers came to him, but they could not reach him because of the crowd. And he was told, ‘Your mother and brothers are standing outside, desiring to see you.’ But he answered them, ‘My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it’” (Luke 8:19-21 ESV).

Last Sunday, we celebrated Mother’s Day. It was a beautiful day! But amidst the flowers and the cards and the outpoured love, a nagging little voice in my head still remained.

“Am I doing enough?”

“Did I mess up?”

“Are my children and grandchildren feeling enough love? Are they taken care of?”

“Have I said the right things?”

The Pressures of Motherhood

There’s an innate pressure to be the perfect mother. Part of that comes from our nature: We love our families, and we want to be the best mothers we possibly can. We want to make sure that, in whatever ability we have, we are showing up at 100% and setting our kids up for success.

But the other pressure comes from what the world is screaming at us daily: If we say the wrong thing, if we do the wrong thing, we can mess up our kids forever.

Mommy blogs can sometimes pile up into what feels like a mountain of our own inadequacies. Why doesn’t my home look like that? Why can’t I respond with that much patience? Why am I not able to have those kinds of conversations with my kids?

Scripture’s Encouragement for Christian Moms

In Luke 8:19-21, Jesus claims us as His family. It’s a promise of hope and love for all of us. And, for us mothers, I think it takes some of the pressure off!

We want to be perfect. And while that’s all well and good, we must remember that, at the end of the day, our true family (and our kids’ true family) is with the Lord. No matter what we do and say, our children belong to Him first and foremost. And honestly, what a relief!

We are not perfect, and we never will be. We’re human, after all. We can (and should) try our best, but there will always be moments where we slip, times when we’re tired and say things we don’t mean, and bouts of mistakes we may not even know we’re making.

What We Need to Make Sure We’re Doing

But the promise in Jesus’ statement brings us back to the truth: Teaching our children about Jesus sits above all. Talk to them about Him. Show them how you’re growing and learning from Him. Demonstrate faith through prayer and the study of the Word. And He will guide them forward.

“Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it” (Proverbs 22:6 ESV).

Jesus has His hand on our children, our grandchildren, our great-grandchildren. Our biggest calling is to bring them closer to Him. In many ways, we are literally “raising” our kids up to Him! We can be the best possible version we can be, and then we leave the rest to Jesus. There’s no greater promise, and no greater hope!

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Cathe Laurie is the founder and director of the Virtue women’s ministry. She is also a featured speaker on The Virtue Podcast, at Harvest events, and the author of As I See It. You can find her weekly articles here on harvest.org.