Meditation Monday - Psalm 127:1 - Relying on Christ in Motherhood

This Monday I’m meditating on Psalm 127 verse 1 where it says

unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain.

Ironically, today marks the one year anniversary since we moved into our home. While we haven’t built it from the ground up (it’s 112 years old), we have done some remodeling over the past year. One thing we’re learning about old homes is what you think will be a “quick renovation” turns into something much bigger, taking a lot longer than expected.

It’s easy to get consumed in house projects in the name of making it feel homey (or just livable). But if I’m not careful, my determination to get everything done will trample right over the little people around me. Missing opportunities for discipleship in the everyday moments.

Proverbs 14:1 says “The wisest of women builds her house, but folly with her own hands tears it down.” 

I don’t want a neat and orderly home if it means broken relationships with the ones I share it with. 

We can get so carried away in things with no eternal value, all while the little souls around us suffer the consequences of our misplaced priorities. I’m not willing to sacrifice my family for a remodeled and organized home.

On the good days, though, our priorities are in the right place, but they’re rooted in self reliance --Relying on our own strength to disciple and raise godly children. But human effort is useless apart from God, whether building a house or raising a family. 

Often times I take pride in myself as a mom -in doing all the “right things” --teaching scripture and catechisms or having a clean home and happy children. But at one point the weight of the responsibilities I place on myself can be crushing, believing that my children’s salvation is up to me. Creating anxieties of all kinds. 

Elisabeth Elliot once said

Fear arises when we imagine that everything depends on us.

It’s important to remember that our children are first the Lord’s and He cares for them even more than we do. He will supply us with the wisdom and discernment and grace and mercy we need for each new day. And we are to rely on Him. Reliance on the Lord eliminates the anxieties that can keep us up at night.

Another quote that comes to mind is one from Jonathan Edwards. He prayed “Lord, stamp eternity on my eyeballs” meaning that we ask God to give us the vision for what we’re doing in each moment -past, present, or future. That we see each house project, each moment of discipline, or every time we interact with our children with an eternal perspective, knowing that everything we do is in light of eternity. Carry it around in your heart when the days are hard and you feel like you are going to lose your ever-loving mind. When the milk spills, when the laundry is taking over the floor, when the house is a construction zone, when the sibling fights seem never-ending. My prayer for you as a mom is that you continually view your job as a mother with an eternal perspective. We won’t always do things perfectly, but we have a Perfect God who will lead us, grow us, refine us, and give us grace on a daily basis. 

Let us remember the good, holy work of raising a family.
Of caring for little ones.
Of teaching them along the way
Of late night feedings and early mornings
Of discipling and disciplining

Let us look to Christ as we raise our families and build our houses.

Let us rely on Him and not ourselves
For strength
For wisdom
For patience
For perseverance  

And I am sure of this, He who began a good work in you will complete it. (Philippians 1:6) He who called you (to motherhood) is faithful, he will surely do it! (1 Thessalonians 5:24)

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