I’ve had it said to me more than once, as an onlooker observes my children in tow: “You must have a lot of patience”, to which I almost always start laughing. The thing about me, that my family knows best (and the stranger obviously does not), is that I was certainly not gifted with the virtue of patience. It is probably the one thing that brings me to my knees more often than anything–repenting over and over for my quick temper, harsh words, or critical attitude. I am so prone to snap and be short-tempered with these people in my home whom I love the most!
No, I don’t have a lot of children because I decided that I was patient enough for them. More accurately, the Lord probably gave me a lot of children because He knew this crucial area where I needed so much work! I am happy to report that I am more patient, albeit not a lot more, but more than I used to be. But how silly it is for us to try to orchestrate the supernatural events of our lives to avoid growing in the areas God would so like us to grow! It’s like saying, “Since I’m overweight, I’m obviously not fit for the gym”.
We pray for patience, or mercy, or whatever virtue we lack, and then we shove away the means by which God would be most able to develop those things we pray for. Children are an EXCELLENT way by which God can chisel off our undesirable traits. How ridiculous for us to blame our own bad habits for not receiving God’s sweetest gifts! (Disclaimer: I am certainly not insinuating that having children is the only way in which God shapes our character…just one that I think He delights to use.)
Are you a perfectionist? Children will solve that. Are you a control-freak? They’ll solve that too. Oh it won’t be painless…I can promise you. But allowing God to rule in your life will bring about the sweetest, most profound transformation. A transformation beyond anything we could orchestrate ourselves.
“She will be saved in child-bearing…” Hmmm…I wonder how deep that implication is!
3 comments
I find my husband telling me (very often) “You’re making your allies into enemies…” when I’m flitting about the house, snapping at this and that and being impatient. I find that for me when I’m in a high pressure situation (need to get out of the house at a certain time, have to go to a stressful event, house is a mess) I am the impatient and snippy and doing just what my dear husband warned me not to do. I have to laugh when people tell me that I’m patient! Hah! I’m learning! Every day!!
Hey-I just love that comparison you made with the fat person and the gym!!! That is perfect!! And sooo funny!!
I want to add to a comment I made to the previous blog. I commented about control and selfishness and image. I want to expand on the image part.
For many years, probably at least since the fifties, large families have been equated with the poor and uneducated. Then came the feminist movement which said that child care was not a career worthy of respect. I really don’t see that logic, since business success is most often measured by the height attained on the corporate ladder. In other words, how many people work FOR you. If a business could be compared to a family, we could say that both of them require a substantial amount of income, hard work, over-time, planning, decision-making, shrewdness, defense, encouragement, growth, etc., etc., in order to survive and thrive.
Some people choose not to have “too many” children because they think their careers are “too important” to give up or jeopardize. They don’t think that their children could ALSO contribute to the job scene. What happened in early America is a great example of how increase in population can increase efficiency and ingenuity. The colonial life was rough, but look at Americans now! It takes a lot of people to fill lots of different jobs to make life easier. It may “take a village” in that sense, to help with the raising of children, but it should never take a stranger(or a “village”) to train up a child in discipline and moral and religious beliefs.