Let the little children come

 Being a homeschool / full time stay at home mom with two busy little girls, some days it can get the best of me. Like, when we have worked on a writing assignment for 4 hours! Or the little one tells me she WILL NOT do something 100 times and 100 times I have to remind her (in a soft voice - eye level with her) that she does not make the rules around here.  Those days are hard. I just need to remember why I stay home with them and that I am trying to do God's will for their lives.

(The girls were at the barn feeding. I was in the kitchen cooking while I watched them working.)

But then I read my daily devotion and it touches my heart as a reminder that this job is a big one. And kids love to help and I need to let them do more and more things. We have just started a chore chart and it has been such a blessing! They can't wait to see what they need to check off each morning and evening! Every time they do a job, I remind them they are being responsible for that job in our home! God is so good - and on those tough days, I need to stop and remember that little children are very much a part of God's work as well.

My devotion was this:

Children are great helpers, and throughout the Bible, we read stories of when God used them in special ways. Consider young Samuel serving God in the temple (1 Samuel 3), Naaman's servant girl who directed him to Elisha for healing from his leprosy (2 Kings 5:2-3), the boy who shared his lunch with Jesus to feed five thousand (John 6:9), and little Rhoda who told the other believers that Peter was knocking at the door after his angelic escape from prison (Acts 12:13-16). Although they may seem small and insignificant, each act was great in the eyes of God.

Are you ever tempted to underestimate the value of your child's obedience and faithfulness to the Lord? Every time he speaks with kindness to a sibling, remembers Grandma with a special hello when she comes to visit, or invites a friend to Sunday school, he is doing God's work on a grand scale. Like the disciples who thought the little children were wasting Jesus' time, don't become a stumbling block to your child's small acts of love. "But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea" (Matthew 18:6).

Father, thank You for my children. Forgive me for underestimating what You can do through their prayers and acts of love and help me encourage them to love You more.

In Jesus' name, Amen.